There Will Be Peace
by TedOrAlive2
Summary: The Great War has raged across Remnant for ten years. No hero, however mighty, can end this conflict alone. But perhaps five smaller, more honest souls can inspire peace.
1. Chapter 1

**August 3rd**

Antigone opened her eyes slowly, not wanting to leave the warmth of her bed. But she could hear her handmaidens calling her and saw light shining behind the curtains of her bedroom windows.

She rose slowly, holding her belly as she sat up. The baby hadn't stirred all night. It had been a pleasant sleep, all things considered, though Antigone still missed the beautiful dreams she often had as a child. She hadn't dreamt since her world had been torn apart ten years ago.

Antigone looked around her bedroom. Everything was white. The colorful patterns she had been used to were now painted over. The artwork she had loved to admire was gone and likely burned. Her bookshelf was mostly empty, with only a few history texts remaining on it. Her favorite jewelry had been replaced by simple gold and pearls. The only things showing that it was her room were a few photographs of various family members, all of which were simple portraits that showed none of the subjects' personality. The Suppression Act had stripped her room of anything that she felt made it hers.

"Come in," Antigone called to her handmaidens. Irina and Elsa entered immediately and began helping her change out of her nightgown. The dress she put on was plain white, and it was let out to leave room for the swell of her belly.

"It won't be long now, Princess," commented Elsa, smiling brightly.

"I know," answered Antigone, smiling back. Thinking of the baby made her happier than anything else could these days. It was strange to know that the person who brought her the most joy in the world was someone she hadn't even met.

Not for the first time, she considered the baby's name. Her father and husband both had expectations, but tradition in Mantle was that only the mother had final say in her child's name. It was the one bit of creativity that Antigone was still allowed.

This, of course, only raised the question of how far she was willing to take this chance. The obvious choice would be to name her child after a former king or queen. That would make her father happy. But she was tempted to name the baby after an artist or storybook character. That was the most rebellious option she could imagine. It would infuriate her family and be an absolute scandal. Over and over she considered the question: should she take this singular chance to express herself, even though such a thing would create trouble needlessly? She couldn't make light of this decision, especially since it would inevitably have a huge impact on her child's life.

Once she was finally dressed, Antigone left her room and walked slowly down the hallway. It was as bare as the rest of the palace.

Entering the dining room, she first saw the head butler, Edmund, standing at the ready. He bowed and greeted her as she opened the doors.

"Good morning, Princess Antigone. The chefs are already preparing your breakfast."

Glancing at the table, she saw her husband, Haemon, was seated alone next to the head. He was dressed in his crisp, white military uniform, medals pinned to his chest. The last few bites of an omelet sat in front of him. He rose as she entered the room, a smile on his face.

"Ah, there she is. How did you sleep, my dear?"

"Well enough," she answered. "The baby was quiet all night long." She walked over to her husband and kissed him on the cheek.

"That's good to hear," Haemon replied. "It'll only be another couple of weeks now. I'll be honored to finally meet the future ruler of Mantle."

Antigone chuckled politely. Acting like their child was a dignitary he had to impress was her husband's idea of a joke. It wasn't very funny, but she appreciated his attempts to make her smile.

She sat across from him, and soon a plate was set in front of her. It was piled high with eggs, warm bread, and fresh cut fruit. The fruit in particular was expensive in the frigid climate of Mantle. Antigone did her best to appreciate the meal.

She considered the chefs for a moment. She realized with envy that they were still allowed to pour their heart into their craft as they always had. In writing the Suppression Act, her father had either failed to consider cooking as a form of self-expression or had deliberately left it out. He was known to enjoy a good meal, so Antigone could believe either possibility.

As she pondered, Haemon finished his own breakfast and rose to leave.

"I'm going to be stuck in meetings all day, but I will see you this evening, my darling," he said. He walked around the table to kiss her on the cheek, and then left through the far door.

Anyone who looked at Haemon could tell he was a military man. Everything about him showed strength and discipline, from his precise movements to his well-kept dark hair. He was tall, handsome, gallant, and always gentle with Antigone. Not to mention he was only four years older than her, less than half the age gap between her parents. A general from a noble background, she had known him for two years before they were wed. She wasn't sure if she loved her husband, but she knew he was far better than what most could expect out of an arranged marriage.

She placed a hand on her belly. Whether or not she loved Haemon, his child was the most important thing in the world to her.

Now that they were alone, she turned to Edmund.

"Please sit down," she asked him.

He sat in the chair next to her with a smile. Edmund Sieben was short, even shorter than Antigone, but was still a respectable figure in his navy blue suit. His brown hair was just beginning to show some gray. He wore a serious expression most of the time, but his eyes were always kind. He had been the head butler of the palace for five years. Before that, he had been one of her personal servants, as well as her tutor. His favorite subject was history, but he had always done his best to match his lessons to Antigone's more artistic sensibilities. She fondly remembered the days of reading and discussing literature with him, but the Suppression Act had taken that away when she was thirteen.

"How are you doing today, Anti?" the butler asked, calling her by the nickname he had used when she was a child. She wondered absently if either of her younger siblings had nicknames.

"Well enough," she answered. "I don't exactly have anything to do today. I think I'll just sit in the garden. It's supposed to be a lovely day."

Edmund smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. He knew what was bothering her. It was the same thing that had been bothering her for ten years.

Antigone had loved the paintings that used to line the walls of the palace. She had loved reading books of all kinds from all around Remnant. She had loved practicing the piano. All of that was gone now, forbidden to her and every other citizen of Mantle. The garden was the only place in the palace that was still beautiful.

Antigone abruptly realized that her sadness was showing on her face. Edmund reached a hand towards the princess to comfort her, but she shook her head and continued eating. She knew that she would start to cry if he embraced her. So the butler simply stood and took his place at the ready behind her.

* * *

 **August 2nd**

Ulysses took one more step and was relieved to find the land in front of him sloped downwards. The climb up the mountains had been brutal, but now they'd finally be coming down.

"Come on, hurry up!" he yelled to his platoon. "If we make good time we can reach Renere by nightfall."

Many of his soldiers, and some nearby men from other platoons, groaned at the thought of that much more walking. Ulysses chuckled.

"If you're complaining about marching, you boys are going to have a bad time when we finally reach the front lines!" he shouted to them. He was only four years older than the youngest of them, but he called them boys when they complained.

"Fighting Mistral is what I signed on for, Captain," answered Rowe. "I was looking forward to it! Getting to the fight wasn't really something I thought about at the time."

"You know the funny thing about that?" began Wilson. "If the war hadn't started when it did, the railroads would reach out here by now. But then we wouldn't be going to Renere in the first place."

"Don't really see how that's funny, Corporal," replied Rowe drily.

"It's not really ha-ha funny," Wilson admitted. "Funny in an ironic way."

Ulysses was about to berate them for talking instead of marching, when a horn cut him off. Three quick blasts sounded from the northeast.

"Grimm! Ready yourselves!" yelled Ulysses. He drew his broadsword and leapt on top of a boulder to get a better look around.

He spotted the platoon that had sounded the alarm, towards the front and left of the column of green uniforms. Their eyes and weapons were pointed skywards. As Ulysses watched, a massive Nevermore swooped down and clawed at the men. Its flock was already upon the company.

Ulysses cursed under his breath. His Semblance was no good against flying enemies. But then, his Semblance wasn't the only weapon he had available to him.

As two of the Grimm dove towards the captain's position, he raised his left hand towards them and focused on the green Dust crystal set into his gauntlet. Ulysses closed his eyes for a moment and found his center.

 _Penelope._

He opened his eyes and unleashed an enormous blast of wind. The gale ripped into the flying Grimm and forced them off course. They swung around and rejoined their flock as it circled the company of soldiers.

"Take aim!" Ulysses yelled to his soldiers. They had already formed up, with the riflemen in lines and the pikers deployed around them defensively.

The captain quickly leapt to the center of the formation and raised his left hand again, concentrating. What he was about to attempt was extremely difficult, and he could only blame himself if it failed. If his timing was slightly off, or if he failed to take every single man's shot into account, he'd only misdirect their shots. His focus had to be perfect.

 _Penelope_.

"Fire!" called Ulysses, and more than just bullets filled the air as his men obeyed. The crystal in the captain's gauntlet synchronized with those in his men's rifles, and the wind directed their shots in a hurricane of death. The Nevermore were sucked into the vortex and torn to shreds by the hail of lead. Nearly half the flock died in that single volley.

Men all around the company cheered, and Ulysses beamed with pride. His men, First Platoon, First Company, Fourth Regiment, Twelfth Division, the Stormcallers, had yet to fail him. Ranged combat was not their forte, but they had performed the Hurricane Barrage perfectly, just as they had trained. Soon they would be known as the finest soldiers in Vale. Their young captain would accept nothing less from them.

* * *

 **August 5th**

Rey took half a step back, and Dell's blade fell an inch short of her nose. In the blink of an eye she was advancing again, raising her own glaive and thrusting it into her opponent's chest. Dell's Aura protected her, but it was close to breaking while Rey's was still untouched.

"You overextended yourself on that one," Rey commented as she adjusted her scarlet ponytail.

"I didn't think you'd be able to counterattack so fast," muttered Dell, raising her glaive back into an on guard position.

"Then you underestimated me," Rey pointed out. "That can be lethal."

In place of an answer, Dell took two quick steps forward. She faked with the haft of her weapon, and then launched a sweeping cut at her opponent's waist.

Instead of parrying, Rey leapt over the arc of the cut. She kicked out with her legs and activated her Semblance. Swimming through the air like it was water, she was behind her opponent before the cut was even finished.

Dell spun around as fast as she could, which only made it easier for Rey to trip her with the end of her glaive. Dell tumbled to the ground, and the redhead's blade was at her neck in an instant.

"Rey wins again," announced Captain Tina from the edge of the training room. A few people groaned, but most didn't react at all. It wasn't as if they weren't expecting that.

"That was better than last time," assured Rey as she helped Dell to her feet. Rey glanced around the large open space of the sparring room at the other men and women of the Imperial Guard lined up against the wall in their teal uniforms. She'd already defeated half of them today. Captain Tina was the only one in their unit who could beat her, the only one who stood a chance really. "I'm ready for another round. Anybody else want to get their butt kicked?"

"I think that's enough for today," the captain replied. "You're all dismissed." The others filed out immediately, but Rey walked up to Tina instead.

"This is getting ridiculous," chuckled the officer. "I tell you you're not allowed to parry, and you make it look like you never wanted to in the first place." Then she frowned. "You'd have made captain years ago if it weren't for that attitude of yours."

"I don't know," Rey answered sheepishly. "I don't think I'd be winning so much if it weren't for my attitude."

"I'm serious, Rey," pressed Tina. "His Majesty demands respect and discipline from his protectors. You chatter away about whatever comes to mind, even when you're on duty! I'm embarrassed to put you anywhere a member of the royal family might actually see you."

Rey shrank under her captain's reprimand. She knew that she ought to show more self-control, but there was always so much going on inside her head. She noticed every detail of her surroundings and was constantly forming opinions and judgements. It really was part of what made her such a good fighter and guard.

"OK, I'll try to rein it in," she mumbled. "But it's not like there are going to be any royals judging me in Sanus."

"True," admitted Tina. "But what are the soldiers going to think of an Imperial Guardswoman who isn't even as disciplined as they are?"

"Come on, they'll love me," laughed Rey. She paused for a moment. "I still think it's stupid for us to be going over there. We're the Imperial Guard; we're supposed to guard the Emperor. The city garrison was one thing, but sending us to the frontlines is just crazy."

"These are crazy times," the captain replied. "But it's not as if they're sending the entire Imperial Guard away. The city will be short-handed for a while, but they can handle it. And by the way, criticizing our orders is exactly the kind of disrespect I was talking about. We don't question, we just obey."

Rey shrugged and looked down at her feet.

"Can I go now?" she asked.

"Dismissed," sighed Tina.

Rey was out the door in an instant.

* * *

 **August 1st**

Erebus lay on the deck of the VSS _Sea Drake_ , having finally found a spot with just the right amount of shade where he could watch the shore roll by. Soon they'd be deploying into a warzone, and he wanted to enjoy every minute of relaxation he could.

He looked out over the southern coast of Sanus, searching for anything interesting. The beaches certainly weren't capturing his attention. It was hard for someone from Vacuo to be impressed by sand.

The forest was another matter. There was nowhere in Vacuo with that many trees. But in the end they were still just trees, and they weren't exactly doing anything. Erebus searched for some sign of animals, or even Grimm, wandering through the forest. He was disappointed.

Erebus heard laughter and glanced over to where a group of soldiers were sitting around chatting. Some of them were from his platoon, the rest were from the nine other units embarked on the massive transport ship. Erebus considered going over to sit with them, but he had never been very good at small talk. He knew he'd just end up sitting awkwardly at the edge of the group.

Erebus continued looking around the transport. The ship was a massive, steel monster that looked far too heavy to float. Its deck was mostly flat, with the bridge structure and a few turrets providing the only shade. There were a couple of other groups of soldiers spread out around the ship, sitting around and chatting.

As Erebus scanned his surroundings, he spotted a tall Faunus man wandering the deck of the ship out of the corner of his eye. His hair was the same color blond as his floppy dog ears.

"Oliver!" Erebus called, waving his arm. The Faunus' ears twitched before he turned around, which always made Erebus smile. The blond man quickly crossed the deck to where Erebus was sitting.

"What have you been up to?" asked Oliver. "Lazing around all day?"

"I got some training in this morning," Erebus answered. "After that, yes, I've been enjoying some well-earned relaxation."

"It must have been some crazy training to earn all the relaxation you get," teased Oliver, sitting down next to his friend.

"I'm a Dust Devil!" complained Erebus, using the platoon's nickname. "This is what happens when you keep me stuck on a boat for so long."

"The name made a lot more sense when we thought we'd be fighting in Vacuo," admitted the Faunus. He had been the first one to suggest the name Dust Devils. "Maybe now it could mean that we use Dust in battle? And like, we're real devils with it?"

"There's nothing wrong with the name, I was complaining about the situation!" Erebus said quickly.

"Well you won't have to worry about the boat much longer," replied Oliver. "We're set to make landfall in Farhaven later today."

"I know, and it couldn't come soon enough," groaned Erebus. "I can't stand being cooped up with so many other people like this."

"You know the sooner we land, the sooner we start fighting," pointed out the Faunus.

"I signed up to fight," countered Erebus. "After all the threats Mistral and Mantle were throwing around at the start of the war, I'm looking forward to knocking some heads. I thought you were too."

Oliver shrugged."Yeah, I guess. It's not hard to find reasons to hate them, but I don't think I would have joined the army if you hadn't."

"Well, I'm glad you're here," answered Erebus. He felt a strange excitement at the thought that Oliver joined the army for his sake.

The two soldiers sat together for almost an hour, watching the coast drift by. They chatted back and forth intermittently, but neither was afraid to just sit in silence. Eventually, Erebus pointed up ahead, where a lighthouse was coming into view.

"Finally!"

They watched the shore as more of the lighthouse and the town behind it came into view. Then, staring at the stone tower, Oliver began to sing.

" _I am a lighthouse, worn by the weather and the waves,_

 _I keep my lamp lit to warn the sailors on their way_

 _I'll tell a story, paint you a picture from my past._

 _I was so happy, but joy in this life seldom lasts."_

As the music stopped, Erebus realized he had been holding his breath. Oliver's singing often had that effect on him, especially when it was unexpected. The Faunus' voice seemed to make the whole world want to stop and listen. Its beauty was almost supernatural, though neither man possessed a Semblance.

"Are you going to finish the song?" asked Erebus hopefully.

"No, it's too sad," Oliver answered. "I just thought of it when I saw the lighthouse." He paused. "I guess that's obvious. Anyways, it's a beautiful song, but it's a real downer."

Erebus considered saying that Oliver leaving a song unfinished was probably a bigger downer, but he held his tongue. He'd known the Faunus man for a long time and knew that he only sang when he wanted to. His voice lost all of its majesty when someone else tried to make him sing. That was part of what made his gift so special.

"If we're landing soon, we'd better get our stuff together," said Erebus. The two soldiers rose and headed for their bunks on the ship.

* * *

 **August 3rd**

Zeke sprinted through the forest, glancing to the right occasionally to make sure Tai was still with him. The rest of the regiment had been too slow to keep up, but the two captains were more than enough to finish off the Valean scouting party.

Zeke caught sight of a man in a green uniform fifty yards ahead. As the scout fled, he shot a quick glance back at his pursuers. The Mistralian activated his Semblance in response, and shadows spread to conceal him. The darker his surroundings, the harder it would be to see him, but even in direct sunlight the shadows would make it more difficult to gauge his position.

As soon as the scout turned his gaze back in front of him, Zeke raised his longsword and focused on the yellow Dust crystal set into its pommel. A bolt of lightning shot from the blade and caught the scout square in the back. The electricity made his legs spasm, and he fell to the ground. Zeke was on him in a matter of seconds.

As he was about to bring his sword down, the Valean soldier spun around and swung a dagger at his face. Reacting instantly, Zeke blocked the swing with his forearm and plunged his sword through the scout's chest.

Zeke looked up and saw another scout pointing a pistol at him from twenty yards away. He raised his sword into a defensive stance as the Valean woman unloaded her clip.

As the bullets neared Zeke, he launched into a flurry of quick movements. Keeping his sword close to his body, he blocked each of the bullets with his blade, sending them spinning off into the trees around him.

Zeke grinned at the scout's reaction to that. With all of the flashier aspects of Aura, people often underestimated how much it could enhance a person's speed and strength. Even so, moving that fast had been draining, and Zeke had to pause longer than he wanted to in order to catch his breath.

On the plus side, he'd managed to scare the enemy out of her mind, and she didn't even notice as Tai came out of the trees behind her. He hurled a dagger into her back with astonishing speed.

Tai walked up to Zeke with a smile on his face. He pointed a thumb over his shoulder.

"I took care of the third one. Blocking her shots like that was awesome."

Zeke shrugged, trying not to look too proud of himself.

"Yeah, I've been training my reflexes for a while. I kind of have to since my Semblance doesn't do much in a head-to-head fight."

Tai laughed as he started walking back the way they had come.

"I still think it makes my Semblance look like crap. Shooting metal at people sounds great until you remember we have guns for that."

Zeke shrugged again as he followed along behind Tai.

"At least yours doesn't depend on how dark it is. Put me in an open field on a sunny day and I barely even have a Semblance."

"Whatever," laughed Tai. "You'd think it was cooler if you weren't comparing it to your father's."

It was hard to argue with that, though he resented how the conversation always turned back to his father. Zeke was respected by everyone in the regiment, and most of them seemed to like him. He wanted to believe that was because of his own merits, but whenever someone mentioned the general he would start to wonder if they were just kissing up.

He thought of something his father had told him when he first joined the army:

"Many will accuse you of benefiting from favoritism because you are my son. You will surpass each and every person who believes this, or you will prove them all right."

Zeke wasn't sure which was more crushing: his father's reputation or his expectations.

Tai noticed his friend's annoyance and quickly changed the subject.

"We'd better get back. Your big mission starts tonight, and you still have to get ready."

Zeke nodded in agreement, both excited and nervous for what was coming.

* * *

 **Author's Note: I thought I should give a little bit of explanation for how this came about. After Ozpin's speech about the Great War in Volume 2, I had a particular idea about what it was and how it ended. Then we got the World of Remnant in Volume 4, and I was seriously disappointed. The idea that the King of Vale just beat up everyone and ended the war seemed to completely undercut the message that I thought this event was supposed to get across. This is my attempt at a more satisfying conclusion to the Great War.**

 **This is my first fanfic, so let me know what you think. In particular, I'd like to know if you want future chapters released the same way as this one, or if I should break them up so that the five characters' stories are in separate chapters.**

 **Thanks for reading!**


	2. Zeke: Chapter 2

**August 3rd**

Zeke sat in the command tent, Colonel Ma staring intently at him, looking for any sign of a slip-up. Major Ovid stood off to the side smiling.

"What did you say the village was called again?" asked the colonel.

"Riverbend," answered Zeke immediately. "It's to the southeast."

"And how come you're the only one who made it out?"

"I was out hunting. I was on my way back when I first saw the Grimm. I wanted to fight but…" Zeke paused and looked at the floor. "I saw that my house was already in ruins. The bodies… everyone was already dead. I panicked and the next thing I knew I was running away as fast as I could." His voice sounded strained, but he wasn't crying or sobbing. He wouldn't have made it this far if he lost control every time he thought about his family.

"That one had me convinced," commented Major Ovid with a grin. Ma shot a glare at him.

"What did you do after that?" Ma asked.

"I ran to Evergreen Falls," answered Zeke. "But when I got there it was also in ruins."

This was where the narrative came together. Riverbend wasn't a real place, but Evergreen Falls was, and it really had been destroyed by Grimm a week ago. The stream of refugees had given Colonel Ma the idea for this plan. Making up a fake village was risky, but if they used a real one then there would be a chance for Zeke to run into someone from that village, and that would blow his cover immediately.

"After that, I just sort of kept going," continued Zeke somberly.

"Why go north instead of west?" asked Ma.

"I was pretty sure that there were people to the north," Zeke answered, shrugging his shoulders. "I knew I might run into the Mistralians, but even that would be better than spending weeks in Grimm territory."

Ma glared at him.

"Your accent, you sounded Mistralian for a second there."

Zeke met the colonel's eyes, his face looking genuinely startled.

"That's just what people sound like where I'm from! I swear! We used to trade with the Mistralian settlers all the time before the war. I don't know what else to tell you."

That was an exaggeration, but not an outright lie. As long as Zeke could sound like he was from Vale most of the time, even the refugees from Evergreen Falls wouldn't find him too unusual.

"I told you he's ready," insisted Major Ovid.

"One last thing," countered Ma. "What was a strong young boy like you doing hunting out in the backwoods? Mistral and Mantle are at our doorstep, and you're not defending your country?"

"I was ten when the war started," began Zeke, shrugging his shoulders. "I wanted to join the army when I turned eighteen, but then my parents were killed by Beowolves. I was the only one left to take care of my siblings."

"Your family has shitty luck with Grimm," the colonel jeered.

Zeke rose from his chair, visibly enraged. Then a look of surprise and fear crossed his face, as if he had realized he was about to attack an officer. He sat back down and stared at the floor.

"OK, that was good," Ma finally admitted. "Where the hell did you learn to act like that?"

Zeke chuckled, finally breaking character. His face lit up and his shoulders straightened. He sat back in his chair, easily meeting his colonel's eyes. The despondent refugee was gone, and a confident Mistralian captain sat in his place.

"I honestly have no idea. I've always been good at it."

"Well we're damn lucky to have you," noted Ovid. "Between your Semblance and your acting, I'd say being a spy was your calling all along."

"Oh please," scoffed Colonel Ma. "The son of General Pantheon was always going to be a soldier."

Zeke managed to keep his face neutral. Getting mad at a superior officer was never a good idea, and he couldn't be too irritated when he knew the colonel was right: his destiny had been chosen for him.

"Anyways," continued Ma. "Your character is as good as it's going to get. Now you need to look the part."

Zeke sighed and stood up. This was going to be even less fun than being interrogated by the colonel. He handed his sword to Major Ovid, and picked up a tattered set of woodsman's clothing that was sitting on a table. He changed clothes quickly and then walked outside into the warm summer night. Hundreds of tents were spread out around the command pavilion along with dozens of campfires. Zeke could barely see the edge of the regiment's camp from where they were. Countless soldiers milled around the area. Some tried to look busy under the gaze of their commanding officers, but most simply continued chatting with their friends or relaxing on the ground.

"Drop your Aura," ordered Major Ovid, placing a hand on Zeke's shoulder. "We need to complete the illusion."

Zeke complied without protest, not that he didn't want to argue. He'd relied on his Aura for so long that to be without seemed unnatural. Of course it had been broken a few times during difficult fights, but to deliberately lower his defenses felt insane. One didn't end up as a captain without some measure of caution. Even worse, he knew that he couldn't raise them again as long as he was undercover.

"Have you ever done something like this before?" asked Zeke. The major considered for a moment before answering.

"Define 'like this.'"

"Oh Dust," whispered Zeke. He squeezed his eyes shut and waited for what came next.

He flinched as a dozen cuts, scrapes, and bruises appeared all over his body. He knew that Ovid had perfect control of his Semblance, but that didn't change the fact that he was letting himself be subjected to a potentially lethal ability. Zeke had seen the major rip men to shreds with a single touch. It didn't work on targets with their Aura up, but it was still a terrifying power.

"Ow," groaned Zeke as Ovid stepped back.

"Sorry," whispered the major.

As unpleasant as that had been, now came the really difficult part. Zeke focused on the injuries one by one, using his Aura to heal them, but only partially. He carefully gave each one a different amount of energy. After a few minutes of intense concentration, the wounds looked like they had been received over the course of several days, rather than all at once.

"Just one last thing," declared Colonel Ma. "You can roll around in dirt, or we can have the men sling mud at you. Take your pick."

"I think I'd rather take care of it myself," groaned Zeke. He walked over to a spot near the tent where no grass was growing and lay down on the ground. He began to roll back and forth, wiggling his body as he did so. He tried not to think of how embarrassing it was for his superiors to see him do this.

A minute later he stood and walked back over to the officers.

"How do I look?"

"Like you've been wandering in the woods for days," answered Ovid.

"Perfect," Zeke said sarcastically. He accepted an old, worn dagger from the major and hung it from his belt. He was about to start walking when Ovid spoke up again.

"How are you feeling?"

Zeke stopped at that. How _was_ he feeling? The preparations had already been uncomfortable, and things were about to get much worse. Hiding among the enemy would be terrifying, and Zeke would have to stay on his toes the entire time. One slip up and he'd be a prisoner of war. At the same time, Zeke knew this was a chance to prove himself. His father's reputation meant nothing for this mission. He'd succeed or fail on his own merits, and everyone would have to recognize him for it.

"I'm ready," answered the captain. Ovid nodded to him, and the three officers began walking towards the edge of camp.

Half the regiment had come out to see him leave. The soldiers stood outside their tents and nodded to the officers as they went by. Expressions ranged from proud to serious to worried. Zeke knew most of their names, and they all knew his. After this mission, maybe that wouldn't just be because he was General Pantheon's son.

As they reached the western edge of camp Zeke looked out across the expanse of grass that lay between him and the target that he would be infiltrating. It was a massive stone fortress which towered over the surrounding trees. Its spires reached towards the heavens, and its battlements looked as solid as mountain cliffs. The mighty structure was known as Grimm's Lament because no monster had ever pierced its walls. It had been built centuries ago by an ancient civilization lost to history. When Vale had begun to settle eastern Sanus, the settlers had reclaimed and renovated the stronghold. Now it was the key to their defense against Mistral.

Clouds filled the sky, blocking out the shattered moon. It was the darkest night they could hope for in the middle of summer, and the lights around the edge of camp had been turned off. Zeke's Semblance would make him all but invisible.

The two officers nodded to him, looks of pride on their faces.

"Come back alive," ordered Ovid . Zeke waited for a comment about his father, and then smiled when he realized it wasn't coming.

"I'll do my best," he answered.

He turned to face Grimm's Lament. Shadows deepened around him until even the officers at his side had trouble seeing him. He took off running across the grassy field, ignoring the pain from the small injuries that now covered his body.

The plan was simple. He'd head south of the fortress, uncloak, walk right up to the guards, then say whatever he had to in order to be let into the structure with the refugees from Evergreen Falls.

 _Get inside. Find out how many soldiers and how many refugees are in there. Find out when they'll be getting reinforcements. Find a weak point in their defenses. Get out unnoticed and back to camp in three days or less. Easy._

Crossing the no-man's-land should have been terrifying, but Zeke was confident in his Semblance. As long as he stayed out of the light, none of the Valean sentries would see him.

After a few minutes of running, Zeke reached the trees to the south of the enemy stronghold. Pausing to catch his breath, he deactivated his Semblance and became visible again. He turned and began walking north towards inevitable capture.

He was about seventy yards away from the walls when a spotlight abruptly blinded him.

"Halt! Stay where you are, and put your hands above your head!" cried a loud, unseen voice.

Zeke raised his hands and got into character.

* * *

 **Author's Note: So, here it is, several weeks later than I meant for it to be. I'm sorry about that, but school's been rough on me lately and even rougher on my editors.**

 **On the other hand, I decided to give each character their own chapters rather than putting all five in one chapter. That wasn't the decision I originally wanted to make, but given how long chapter 2 ended up being, I think it was the right choice. This means you can expect updates way more often in the future. I can pretty much promise there will never be another three week break. The other characters should be getting their chapter 2 over the next couple of days.**

 **As always, thanks for reading!**


	3. Erebus: Chapter 2

**August 1st**

The Dust Devils stood in a circle on the wharf, having just finished disembarking from the _Sea Drake_. Each man was carrying his weapon, as well as a heavy backpack stuffed with equipment. As the last of them joined the group, Captain Perry addressed them.

"The other officers and I will be contacting HQ to let them know we've arrived in Farhaven. We'll have our orders by tonight and be moving out tomorrow morning. The mayor has allowed us to camp out in the town square tonight, but I'm giving you permission to rent hotel rooms if you're willing to spend the money. In any case, I expect you to be in the town square, ready to march at 0800. Until then, you have the run of the city. Dismissed!"

Erebus turned to Oliver and was about to ask what he wanted to do, when a loud voice cut him off.

"Well, Dust Devils, looks like we've got an evening to kill!" began Corporal Blageur, stepping in front of the platoon. "This is a port town, so it must have at least a few good bars. What's say we show these rubes how we party in Vacuo?"

Overdramatic as always, the corporal still got a cheer from the platoon. Erebus figured the Dust Devils would enthusiastically support any plan that involved alcohol, no matter how it was presented.

Blageur set off at a brisk pace away from the docks and towards the center of town. The rest of the platoon followed close behind. Oliver spared a quick look back at Erebus, who hadn't moved yet.

"You coming?"

"Yeah," sighed Erebus. He adjusted the rifle slung over his shoulder and reluctantly followed his Faunus friend. A crowded, noisy bar wasn't the sort of place Erebus felt most comfortable, having never fit in well with the Dust Devils' raucous partying. But he knew it was where Oliver would want to be, and it had to be better than sitting alone in the square. Besides, it would probably be his last chance to get a stiff drink anytime soon.

The platoon reached the end of the wharf and was immediately greeted by the sight of a large wooden structure with a sign proudly proclaiming it to be Dion's Tavern. The building looked surprisingly clean and well-maintained for the kind of place sailors likely frequented. Erebus wondered if that meant the place really was more upscale than he'd expected, or if it was just that living in Vacuo had given him low standards for cleanliness.

Entering the tavern with the rest of the platoon, Erebus began to suspect the latter. The inside wasn't covered in sand and looked to be free of blood and puke stains, but the chairs, tables, and wall decorations looked just as cheap as he'd anticipated. The tavern was dimly illuminated by a handful of electric lamps. There were only three patrons inside at the moment, one of whom was passed out at the bar. Manning said bar was a large, middle-aged man whose big smile seemed completely out of place on his rough, scarred face. Erebus figured this was probably Dion.

"Well, would you look at that!" the barkeep yelled as they entered. "Vacuo's finest have decided to grace my humble establishment!"

"Is it always so busy?" asked Blageur with a glance around the nearly empty tavern.

"Well, the dockhands don't get off work for another half an hour," answered Dion. "After that, it'll get a bit more crowded in here."

The men filed in and began grabbing seats. Oliver immediately sat down at a table near the bar where he'd be surrounded by the other Dust Devils. Forced to choose between sitting close to the center of attention and sitting away from his friend, Erebus sighed and took the seat next to Oliver.

As people went up in small groups to order drinks, the platoon began loudly conversing about a dozen things at once. Erebus tried to keep up with the dialogue, but it was too much for him. Ideas, opinions, and insults were being thrown back and forth faster than he could hope to keep track of. He might have been able to focus on one conversation and tune out the rest if it weren't for the disconcerting fact that Oliver was having no such difficulties. The Faunus appeared to be discussing the town, the bar, the upcoming fight against Mistral, and some friends back in Vacuo all in the same breath.

Finally, Erebus gave up and went over to the bar to get a drink. He didn't trust himself with liquor, and the beer selection was limited, so he ended up with a pint of the bitterest ale he had ever tasted. He returned to the seat next to Oliver, content to nurse his drink and be ignored.

That plan changed when a large group of burly, sunburnt men burst inside just when Dion had said they would. The dockhands stopped just inside the door and stared at the soldiers who had taken most of the seats in their favorite bar. Then one of the men near the front of the group burst out laughing.

"Dion, what are you doing? We can't very well beat Mistral if all our soldiers are drunk off their asses!"

A laugh went up from both the Dust Devils and the workers. Many of the soldiers were quick to defend their ability to hold their alcohol. Erebus mentally prepared himself for the inevitable drinking contest. Watching the rest of his unit drink themselves half to death would be bad enough, he hoped he'd be able to at least avoid participating. Marching with a hangover sounded far from pleasant.

The dockhands got their drinks and began to mingle with the soldiers. Things quickly became even more chaotic than they had been earlier, and once again Oliver was at the center of attention, happily conversing with at least a dozen people he'd never met before.

Erebus felt a familiar pang of jealousy. For as long as he had known Oliver, this was always how things went. Everyone wanted to be friends with the Faunus, and he flourished from their attention. Parties like this one were his natural habitat. Erebus, on the other hand, had to work not to be ignored. He usually ended up sitting near the edge of the group, surrounded by people and feeling completely alone. But it wasn't Oliver's sociability that Erebus was jealous of. He didn't want to be at the center of the room, talking to everyone. All he wanted was for Oliver to pay attention to him.

As if reading his thoughts, the Faunus turned to look at him. The smile that had been plastered onto Oliver's face since they entered the bar disappeared.

"You OK, buddy?"

"I'm fine," Erebus answered with a shrug. "You know this isn't exactly my scene." He wanted to say more, but didn't feel comfortable enough with so many people, half of them strangers, surrounding him.

Oliver cocked his head towards one of the tables by the wall. It wasn't quite private, but at the very least it was farther away from the rest of the bar patrons. Erebus smiled and nodded in agreement. The two of them moved to the table after Oliver excused himself from the several conversations he had been a part of.

"Do you want to go?" asked Oliver once they were seated again.

"It's fine, I don't want to be a killjoy," insisted Erebus. In truth, he was now exactly where he wanted to be. He would have been happy enough even if one or two other Dust Devils had joined them, but sitting alone with his best friend was Erebus's favorite way to spend a party.

"Have you ever thought about trying to put yourself out there a little more?" asked Oliver. "We're all comrades here. You can talk to anyone you want."

Erebus sighed. He knew Oliver was trying to be supportive, but they'd been over this a dozen times over the years. He knew that no one was trying to make him feel isolated, and he knew that any of the Dust Devils would have his back anytime he needed it. But knowing that didn't make him feel any more comfortable trying to jump into their conversation like he was a part of it.

"It's not that I don't like them or trust them. I'm just not the social butterfly you are."

Before Oliver could respond, he was cut off by yelling on the other side of the room.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sergeant Darcy was shouting at a burly dockhand. The two were standing near the bar, squaring off and staring each other down. Several empty glasses sat on the bar next to them, and both men were red in the face and slurring their words.

"It means you bastards didn't feel like getting involved until they were threatening you!" yelled the dockhand. "Happy enough to sit on your asses and let things happen, but once Mistral started looking your way, it's 'Don't worry, Vale, we got your backs!' Buncha cowards."

"You're lucky we're here at all!" retorted Darcy. "We coulda just left your sorry asses to fend for yourselves!"

"Yeah, well we might be better off without a bunch of cowards like you. You gonna turn on us if things start going south?"

Oliver stepped in between the two men, holding up his hands to separate them. Erebus was startled, having not even noticed him get up.

"Come on, guys, settle down," began the Faunus. "We're here now, and that's what's important."

"What, now a mutt's gonna to preach to us?" sneered the dockhand.

That had Erebus suddenly seeing red. Being a Faunus was rarely a problem in Vacuo, but those rare occasions when someone had said something negative about Oliver's race never failed to enrage Erebus. Before he knew it, he too was getting up out of his seat, hands balled into fists. He wasn't the only one either; a few other Dust Devils were looking ready to jump in and defend Oliver and Darcy.

That was until the Faunus continued speaking, his voice calm and even.

"There is no point fighting over this. We all want the same thing here, to beat back those Mistralian and Mantelian jerks. Well, that and another drink."

Oliver's joke broke the tension completely. All of the soldiers and civilians who had been gearing up for a fight a moment ago were laughing now. As always, Erebus was blown away by Oliver's ability to say exactly the right thing. He sat back down and watched as the Faunus got another round of shots for himself, Darcy, and the dockhand. It was barely a minute after that before Oliver's voice cut through the noise of the tavern once again.

 _"A long time ago, way back in history,  
_ _When all there was to drink was nothing but cups of tea.  
_ _Along came a man by the name of Charlie Mops,  
_ _And he invented a wonderful drink and he made it out of hops._

 _He must have been an admiral, a sultan, or a king,  
_ _And to his praises we shall always sing.  
_ _Look what he has done for us he's filled us up with cheer!  
_ _Lord bless Charlie Mops, the man who invented beer!"_

The entire tavern cheered in unison on the last line. The Dust Devils started singing along immediately, and by the second chorus the townsfolk had joined in as well. Yet even with all of them together, Oliver could still be heard loud and clear, his voice strong and sure and beautiful.

Erebus smiled and sang along. It would probably be awhile before he got another chance to be alone with Oliver, but he thought this might be just as good.

* * *

 **Author's Note: Not a lot going on this chapter, but I still felt it was an important one. We needed to see a bit more of the Dust Devils before they got into combat.**

 **Next chapter should be up soon. Thanks again for reading!**


	4. Rey: Chapter 2

**August 5th**

Rey stepped out of the barracks and breathed in the cool evening air. She had cleaned up and changed out of her uniform. She was off-duty until tomorrow afternoon, so it was time to see what Mistral had in store for her.

Here, near the top of the mountain, she could see the entire city. Elegant white-painted buildings of all shapes and sizes were perched wherever there was enough flat ground to support them. Streets coiled and zig-zagged around cliffs and structures, making it easy to see why so many thought of Mistral as maze-like and confusing.

But Rey knew the city inside and out. She had lived here her entire life and explored every district and neighborhood. No one knew all of Mistral's secret places, but Rey came closer than most.

She strolled down the winding streets, smiling at the few other citizens walking around at this hour. As she wandered, Rey began to notice a feeling in her chest, a need for something that would perfect this twilight hour.

 _A drink? That sounds good, but there's something else. A man? Nah, not right now. What do I want?_

Rey stopped and snapped her fingers.

"Music! That's what tonight needs."

A memory surfaced in Rey's mind from when she was a child. It had been a cool summer night, just like this one. But the streets had been packed with people then. Paper lanterns were hung up all over the city, making it almost as bright as day. The shops had all been open, their entrances plastered with colorful decorations. Music was everywhere, overlapping tunes crisscrossing the air. In every bar and on every street corner, crowds of people listened to the musicians play. The sensory overload might have overwhelmed young Rey, but instead it had all blended together into a feeling of being surrounded by beauty. That was Mistral as it was supposed to be.

Now the streets were practically empty, and the shops were all closed. It was hard to have crowds when half the people were away fighting. As for music…

The Suppression Act had never been enforced here in the city, but that didn't mean that nothing had changed. Many artists had protested the decision to accept Mantle's edict and been imprisoned as dissidents. Many others enlisted or were conscripted to fight against Vale. Those who were left found it hard to find an audience when most people just had the war on their minds.

Even so, this was Mistral. There was always music somewhere.

Rey wandered the streets, sticking to the neighborhoods on the upper half of the mountain. The buildings here were big and lavish, and the streets were as clean and straight as the landscape would allow. Rey arrived at a row of high-class bars and restaurants with brightly colored entrances. This was where the wealthy went when they wanted to enjoy a night on the town and be seen doing it.

Most of the establishments were closed for the night like everything else, but one tavern was still lit, its door open. And, sure enough, Rey could hear the gentle sound of a lone string instrument coming from inside.

Rey knew the tavern, and it wasn't where she wanted to spend her night. The décor was too fancy, the patrons too snobbish, and the drinks too expensive. But she knew from experience that she was unlikely to find a musician in one of the cheaper bars which she preferred. That was just the way Mistral had been the past few years. The Suppression Act hadn't gotten rid of art entirely, but what was left ended up being a lot more expensive.

Rey strode into the tavern and found half the tables full of small groups of people chatting quietly or listening to the music. The patrons were a mix of merchants and artisans, with a couple of minor nobles near the center of the room where everyone else could see them. Rey noticed that most of the elite in attendance possessed some visible reason they weren't off fighting in the war, whether it was age or injury or general lack of fitness. They were all dressed in their finest and looked dour and serious in the way that only stuck-up rich people could.

 _For Dust's sake, this is a bar! Where's the dancing and the obnoxiously loud conversations? Do they come here just to show off how boring they are, or is this what their idea of fun looks like?_

She swept her gaze over the tables to the far side of the room. Seated beneath an elaborate, wooden wall ornament, an elderly man was strumming out a gentle tune on a guitar. His playing was nothing to write home about, but it set Rey at ease all the same. In many ways, this was the last place she wanted to be right now. But her heart craved music, and this was where she happened to find it.

She walked over to the bar and ordered some overpriced sake. The barkeep raised an eyebrow at Rey's casual clothing, but accepted her money without comment. A brightly painted railing ran around the bar area, and a few people were leaning against it, watching the old man play. Rey joined them once she had her drink.

She glanced at the man next to her. He was short and a bit stocky, and he wore an unusual white suit. Many of the patrons were too serious for people at a bar, but this man looked downright angry. He was staring daggers into the old guitarist at the back of the room.

"Not enjoying the music?" Rey asked him. He glared at her for a moment before returning his gaze to the musician.

"I heard that the Suppression Act wasn't well-enforced here, but I didn't realize there were such open violations," he replied indignantly. His accent was distinctly Mantelian.

 _Oh great, I found an ambassador. Lucky me._

"If the Imperial Guard were here, I'd demand that they arrest this man," continued the diplomat.

"If only," deadpanned Rey, checking to make sure her badge was well-hidden.

"Oh don't be such a stick in the mud!" called a cheerful voice from the man's other side. He and Rey turned to see a blonde girl leaning against the railing and holding a drink. She looked about twenty, a year or so younger than Rey. She wore simple brown traveler's clothing that was even more out of place than Rey's attire. The girl managed to look pretty even in such simple garb.

"A stick in the mud?" growled the Mantelian diplomat. "The Suppression Act is meant to keep us safe from the creatures of Grimm and-"

"That always sounded like a load of crap to me," interrupted the girl. "I see more Grimm than ever these days."

"Yes, and we should certainly trust your judgement over the King of Mantle," the ambassador said sarcastically. "Whoever you are."

"Sure," deadpanned the girl. "What would a huntress know about Grimm? Better leave the decisions to a bunch of stuck-up nobles."

The diplomat gave a wordless snarl before turning and storming out of the tavern.

"Is it just me, or did this place get ten times nicer as soon as he left?" quipped the girl.

"I was thinking the same thing," Rey agreed. "I'm Rey. What's your name?"

"You can call me Summer," the girl answered brightly. "It's not my name, but it is who I am." Rey wasn't sure what that meant, but decided to accept it.

"I hope you're enjoying the music a little more than he was." The old man had switched to a livelier tune while they had been talking to the diplomat.

"I am," replied Summer. "But it took me so long to find. I've always heard Mistral was supposed to be the most artistic place in all of Remnant, but when I got here I could only find one bar in the whole city with a musician."

"Yeah," agreed Rey sadly. "There hasn't been much music since the war started. It's kind of depressing really."

 _Why did I say that? I shouldn't be so forward with someone I just met._

"Then you should do something about it," offered Summer.

"Like what?" asked Rey.

"Seems kind of obvious to me. Make some music."

Rey laughed."I'd love to, but I can't play an instrument. I've tried before, and I have zero talent."

"Come on, there's gotta be something you can do to liven up this city," pressed Summer.

"Well, I'm not a terrible singer," mumbled Rey. "But I'd need a lot of practice before I tried performing."

"So practice!" Summer chuckled. "Or are you too lazy?"

"No!" replied Rey. "I just have other things I need to focus on right now. I'm part of the Imperial Guard, and I'm shipping out to Sanus soon. I won't exactly have time to practice my singing while I'm at war."

Summer stared at her for a second before turning away.

"Well, whatever you think is more important."

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Rey, starting to feel irritated. "I was ordered to go to Sanus and fight, so that's what I'm going to do."

"If you were ordered to jump off a cliff, would you do that?" asked Summer.

Rey thought of Captain Tina's words:

 _We don't question, we just obey._

"I'm not really sure," admitted Rey after a moment.

"Well, I bet you can figure it out eventually," answered Summer. She finished her drink and walked away, leaving Rey alone with her thoughts.

* * *

 **Author's Note: This was a fun chapter for me. I don't think Rey's first chapter had enough personality in it, so for this one I tried to give a good idea of who she is.**


	5. Ulysses: Chapter 2

**August 2nd**

After the Stormcallers' impressive display, the rest of the Nevermore were cleaned up quickly. The pikemen kept the Grimm from launching a successful counterattack, and the company's rifles brought down the monstrous ravens one by one. Not a single man was lost to the Grimm attack. Continuing the trek down the side of the mountain, First Company reached their destination just before sundown.

Renere was a small town with only a couple thousand people, but that still made it one of the largest settlements east of the mountains. Its central square was situated on a steep hill with a commanding view of the surrounding lands. A stone wall twice the height of a man circled the buildings with an enormous wooden gate on the western side as the main point of entry. The farms around the town were compact and close to the wall.

As Ulysses entered the gates, he saw that hundreds of citizens had come out to greet First Company. He smiled and was about to wave to them, as some of his men were already doing, when he began to notice details about the people.

Many of them were exactly the sort Ulysses had expected to see: patriotic citizens out to welcome the soldiers. There were men, women, and children with the look of farmers, artisans, and shopkeepers. Most were human, but there were a handful of Faunus as well. They were cheering and celebrating the warriors who would soon be fighting to protect them. Some waved the banner of Vale above their heads, and all looked glad to see their defenders.

But the others…

They were covered in dirt and their clothes were tattered. They wore backpacks and carried sacks, all filled to bursting. Some were also holding daggers or spears. Many appeared to be injured, and even more were appallingly thin. There were more Faunus among this group, and there didn't appear to be a single able-bodied man. Some of this disheveled lot smiled and waved with the rest of the crowd, but others just stared, and some seemed to ignore the soldiers completely.

Looking past them, Ulysses could see tents set up on some of the side streets. Some were little more than sheets strung up in alleyways with piles of clothing and other belongings beneath them. At least one of the grime-coated people sat at each of these makeshift dwellings, surveying the area protectively.

 _Refugees? There are so many of them! The town must be completely overcrowded._

First Company stopped in the town square and found the elders of Renere were there to greet them. Ulysses and the captains of Second and Third Platoons followed Major Agemus to the front of the column of men.

One of the elders stepped up to give a broad welcome to the soldiers. The crowd cheered and clapped for their defenders. Ulysses kept his eyes forward, but his thoughts were still on the refugees. He didn't hear a word of the greeting.

 _Where did all of these refugees come from? Has Mistral really displaced so many?_

After the brief public welcome, the officers followed the elders into the town hall to discuss the specifics of their stay in Renere. As Ulysses entered the solid, three-story building, he cast one last look over his shoulder. The crowds had rushed forward to meet the men of First Company.

At least, the citizens had. The refugees stayed where they were.

* * *

 **Author's Note: I know, this chapter is really short. I'm sorry about that, but honestly I think it covered everything it needed to right now. Don't worry, the next one is going to be a lot longer.**

 **Thanks for reading!**


	6. Antigone: Chapter 2

**August 3rd**

Antigone sat alone in the palace garden, the sun shining on her face. It was never warm in Mantle, but at least there was no snow in the middle of summer. Antigone was comfortable enough wearing her dress and a light jacket, despite the chill of the stone bench she sat on.

She was used to enduring a bit of cold. She had to be with as much time she spent in the garden these days. The blank, white walls of the palace were suffocating, but here, surrounded by trees and grass, she felt like she could breathe again.

The garden had been a small point of contention when the Suppression Act was made law. Some had seen it as a place of beauty and self-expression and wanted it destroyed. Others had pointed out that it could serve a practical purpose. Gardens could grow food or medicinal herbs after all. But what had truly saved this place was that no one had any idea what to replace it with. A barren, empty courtyard wouldn't just be an eyesore, it would be a blatant waste of space. So it had been decided that the flowers and statues would be removed, but the garden would remain.

Now it was Antigone's only refuge from her father's decree, the only place in the palace that still had an iota of beauty. Two gray stone pathways intersected in the center of the garden, dividing it into fourths. One of the four corners was indeed devoted to growing medicinal herbs, but the other three simply bore grass, shrubs, and a handful of pine trees. Two of them also had simple stone benches near the walls of the courtyard, facing towards the center. That was where Antigone sat, enjoying the feeling of being surrounded by a color other than white.

 _What color is it? Green, obviously, but it's more than that. The color that's helped me keep my sanity these past ten years needs a more profound name than just 'green'._

Antigone struggled to think of every word she could that meant green. It occurred to her suddenly that green was the color of Vale. Their soldiers wore green uniforms into battle.

And with that, she was thinking about the war. The Suppression Act was never far from her mind; she saw reminders of it everywhere she looked. But the war with Vale and Vacuo was something she didn't consider quite as often, even with a general for a husband. When she did think of it, she became filled with fear and sorrow. Any news from the front was bad news. To lose a battle meant that many of her citizens had been killed in action, far from home. To win a battle meant that Mantle was one step closer to enforcing the Suppression Act on the rest of Remnant.

Antigone shook her head and closed her eyes. She rested that way for a long time, trying to banish all thoughts of war from her mind.

When she opened her eyes again, she was surprised to find that she was no longer alone. Standing in the center of the garden was her younger brother, Ethan. The teenager was out of place, usually busy with lessons or combat training this time of day.

"Ethan! Come here! Would you like to sit with me?" she called to her brother.

Ethan slowly turned to look at her and shook his head.

"I have to go," he answered, a blank expression on his face.

"Go where?" asked Antigone, confused by his seriousness. Ethan simply pointed to a corner of the garden that was wreathed in shadow. Slowly, he began walking along the path in that direction.

Antigone placed a hand on her belly as she rose to follow her brother. She hurried to catch up with him, but it seemed she couldn't get within a few steps, encumbered as she was. In fact, Antigone was so focused on reaching Ethan that she didn't realize how far they'd been walking. She looked around for a moment and was startled to realize she was surrounded by darkness. The only things visible to her were Ethan and the path they were walking on.

"Where are we going?" Antigone exclaimed.

"There," he answered in a neutral voice. Ethan pointed up ahead to a set of iron gates that Antigone hadn't seen before. Before she could say anything more, he ran through them and out of sight.

Antigone continued after him. Once she was through the gates, she looked around and found herself surrounded by stones, each standing around waist height. Mist hung in the air, making it hard to see more than a few yards in front of her face. Ethan was nowhere to be seen.

 _"One more."_

Antigone spun around, looking for the source of the voice. No one was there. As she continued searching, her eyes settled on one of the stones, and she saw that there were words carved into the side of it.

"Colonel Alder Creon, Hero of Athen Fields." Beneath that were two dates.

"Ethan!" Antigone cried, supporting her belly as she ran desperately through the mysterious graveyard. "Where are you?"

Finally, the fog parted and she saw Ethan standing in front of one of the grave markers, staring at it. She ran to where he was standing and reached out to him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

 _"One more."_

The voice seemed to come from everywhere at once. The instant that Antigone heard it, her hand passed through Ethan's body, and he vanished into the mist. She stared in shock at the place where he had been, then her gaze fell to the headstone he had been looking at.

"Ethan, Prince of Mantle."

Antigone inhaled sharply and backed away from her brother's grave, trembling. She was about to start running again when she heard a familiar voice.

"Sister? Is that you?"

Antigone looked to her right and saw that she was just beside the iron gates. Standing outside them was her youngest brother, Paul. Though he was nearing fifteen, he looked like a small child standing there alone in the darkness.

 _"One more."_

"Paul!" cried Antigone, rushing to his side. "Run away. Don't go there, please." Paul stared at her with a blank expression, and then swiveled his head to look at the iron gates.

"I'm not going there," he told her. She nearly cried out in relief, but then Paul turned away from her and began walking in the opposite direction of the graveyard. Antigone saw nothing but darkness that way. She ran after her brother, but couldn't seem to catch him as they kept moving through the gloom.

 _"One more."_

Antigone glanced to the side and saw a tree standing alone in the darkness. Lying against its roots was the body of a soldier in a white uniform, his chest riddled with bullets.

Antigone looked back to the way she had been going, but instead of seeing Paul, she found herself surrounded by a forest of corpses. Dozens of soldiers lay where they had fallen among the trees with no marker or gravestone to distinguish who they had been in life. Wounds of all kinds covered the bodies. Even as Antigone watched, crows descended upon the remains to feed.

"Sister?" Paul came up behind her and placed a hand on her arm. Antigone spun around and embraced him as tightly as she could, wanting to protect him from this terrible sight.

 _"One more."_

Paul's arms fell slack around her. She looked down at his face to see his eyes glaze over and blood spill from his mouth. She let go of her brother in shock and he collapsed to the ground, more carrion for the birds.

Antigone backed away and covered her mouth to keep from screaming. She felt tears fill her eyes, but she could still see the four shadowy figures that approached her through the field of bodies. They strode forward confidently, paying no mind to the corpses beneath their feet. Their faces were hidden in darkness, and the only feature Antigone could make out was that each of them wore a crown.

 _"One more,"_ said the first king. Another corpse appeared among the others.

 _"One more,"_ said the second king. Another man became food for crows.

 _"One more,"_ said the third king. Another soldier joined the nameless ranks of the dead.

The fourth king slowly approached Antigone. As he drew closer, the shadows parted to reveal the aged face of her father. Antigone trembled, too afraid to move, as he placed a hand on the bulge of her womb.

 _"One more."_

Antigone startled awake, gasping for breath, her heart still pounding in her chest. Instinctively her hand went to her belly, though she wasn't sure if she was trying to protect her child or simply reassure herself.

Looking around, Antigone realized that she was still sitting on the bench in the garden. There was no one else around. It hadn't been more than a couple of hours since she had first come outside. She was surprised that she had dozed off, but that was definitely not the first thought on her mind.

With some difficulty, Antigone slowed her breathing, and her pulse gradually calmed. She rose from the bench and, trying to look as composed as she could, hurried to her room.

Once she was there, Antigone closed the door and leaned against it, finally confronting the images from her dream. They were as vivid in her mind as anything she had ever seen. Ethan's grave, Paul's corpse, her father reaching towards her, the visions haunted her like ghosts. She let tears pour down her face, but still quieted her sobs as much as she could.

 _Calm down! It was only a dream. A cruel, cruel dream._

Even as Antigone realized this, she knew there was more to it than that. Ethan was nearly of age to go to war, and he had spent half his life training for battle. Paul was a few years behind, but that didn't stop Antigone from imagining him as a nameless corpse on an unknown battlefield. Her child, at least, was safe. The war couldn't possibly last another eighteen years.

 _Could it?_

The first shots had been fired a decade ago now, and the conflict had shown no signs of slowing since then. Each day brought more battles, more hatred, and more killing. Neither side was truly gaining ground in Sanus; they were simply sending soldiers to die by the thousands in a bloody stalemate. But no matter how much was lost, it seemed all were set on fighting to the bitter end.

Antigone turned towards her bed, ready to collapse from fear and grief, and was surprised to find a book sitting on her pillow. The book was neither large nor long. Its green leather cover was old and slightly worn, and the pages were yellowed. There were no words on the front or spine. Antigone didn't recognize the book and had no idea where it might have come from.

She picked up the book and opened the front cover. The title page bore only a single word, "Anthology." It was printed in the dark, blocky letters of an old printing press.

Antigone brought the book over to her desk and sat down to read it, an almost hungry feeling filling her. As perplexing as the book was, "Anthology" implied that it was a collection of poems or short stories. If she was right, then this was the very thing that had been denied to her for ten long years. She wasn't going to miss this chance to experience art, however strange it was.

Turning the page, Antigone was proven right. A short poem, only eight lines long, sat alone on the first page. It described the power of books to transport the reader to a far off place. Antigone chuckled at the editor's decision to start the book with a poem about books, but she recognized what a perfect choice it was. Already this book carried her away from the dreariness of her life since the Suppression Act and the terror that her dream had brought.

On the next page she found another short, simple poem. This one detailed how music can inspire and energize, the way it can make the world seem like a new, more beautiful place. Antigone smiled as she was reminded of songs she had once loved, but hadn't heard in many years.

 _Ten years without music… I had almost forgotten how much I missed it._

Antigone turned the page to find a much longer piece. It described a person's grief regarding some tragic loss, how the pain might lessen over time only to return in some quiet, lonely moment. It evoked thoughts of losing her brothers as she had in the dream, but she also thought of her grief at everything that she had lost to the Suppression Act. After ten years the pain had faded, but it had never disappeared completely. Sometimes she went days without really thinking about everything that she missed, only to be reminded of it by something small or trivial.

Antigone continued reading, taking the time to enjoy each new poem. Some were uplifting, while some were depressing. Some were emotional, while others were more thoughtful. Each was beautiful in its own way, and to Antigone this beauty was like water after days in a desert.

Eventually, she reached a longer poem titled "Four Gifts."

 _In four gifts shall you humans find your worth.  
_ _Though every day the world tries to ablate  
_ _Your soul, you yet defy entropic fate.  
_ _Your strength gives children and ideas birth,  
_ _Crafts tools from steel, brings food from seed and earth,  
_ _For you shall have the power to create._

 _So too can man unleash a violent side,  
_ _Be it for pointless rage or vengeance just.  
_ _Wood turns to ash, stones sand, and metal rust,  
_ _You'll hasten this when tainted by your pride.  
_ _Embrace the dark and let it be your guide,  
_ _Find strength to take all things and make them dust._

 _But each action should have its consequence,  
_ _And you'll not be blind to which line you tow.  
_ _You'll see what you will reap from what you sow.  
_ _Even when it can make no difference,  
_ _Your mind will strive to learn all secrets, hence,  
_ _Gift or curse, your world and self you shall know._

 _The last great gift for each man yet alive:  
_ _Foul id and conscience war within you, still  
_ _That choice, which destiny you shall fulfill,  
_ _Is yours when the hour to choose should arrive.  
_ _Whether for cruel or noble ends they strive,  
_ _Above all things, mankind shall have free will._

Antigone nearly scoffed at that last line. It seemed almost like a cruel joke given how little control she currently had over her own life. It was hard to believe in free will when people could be arrested just for trying to express their individuality.

Antigone turned the page, still annoyed by the previous poem, and was surprised when a folded sheet of paper fell out of the book. She glanced from the paper to the pages that had hidden it. Setting the sheet aside for a moment, she read the poem on that page.

Immediately her mood shifted. This poem spoke of defiance in the face of a cruel and resentful world. The author acknowledged everything that people could do to try to tear her down, and she firmly stated that it would not be enough. The boldness, the certainty, and the confidence this piece showed were awe inspiring. Antigone didn't know who the author was or what she had faced, but her bravery carried through in this work.

With an unfamiliar surety swelling in her, Antigone considered all that she had read. After ten years of being locked away, this book had flooded her with emotions and a certainty that they had a purpose. Two revelations flashed through her mind, one that her mind had reiterated many times before, and one that was completely new.

 _The Suppression Act is wrong._

 _I can end it._

"No," she whispered, fear and restraint warring against her newfound confidence. "It's my father's will, it's the law. I can't just…"

 _I_ can _end it._

Antigone took a deep breath. Fear still lingered at the back of her mind, but her heart had already made the decision.

"I am the princess of Mantle," she whispered to herself. "If I know that my kingdom's actions are wrong and I do nothing, how could I ever expect anyone else to step forward? Evil triumphs when good men fail to act. If I want the Suppression Act to end, then I must be the one to end it."

Even still, she knew things were not so simple as that. As the princess of Mantle and the mother of the future monarch, she had privileges that an average citizen didn't. She couldn't imagine her father having her executed, or even throwing her in prison. Regardless, she knew that publicly speaking out against his decree would have consequences. He might not jail her, but he could confine her to her room easily enough.

Antigone imagined herself trapped in her room under constant guard. Her child would be taken from her shortly after it was born and might never get the chance to meet its mother. The thought of losing her baby like that was the most terrifying thing Antigone could imagine. No, ending the Suppression Act would be easier said than done. She would need a plan of some kind.

Antigone set down the book and picked up the piece of paper that had fallen from it. She unfolded the sheet and was immediately confused by what she saw.

"Tenth Division" was printed at the top of the page. Beneath that was written "General Haemon Thebos." Under that was a list of names and ranks, apparently the officers who commanded the Tenth Division. This list went all the way down to the level of captain and, as near as Antigone could tell, didn't leave out anyone.

Strangely, a number of the officers' names were circled in red ink. Antigone counted a colonel, four majors, and seven captains. She didn't recognize any of the names and had no idea why they had been marked.

"My husband's division," Antigone mumbled to herself. She considered what it might mean, and then her eyes widened as she remembered something. "They're going to be shipping out to the front lines in a few weeks."

An idea began to take shape in her mind, one that might give her some leverage to defy her father. It was a longshot, but it was more than what she had a moment ago.

Antigone picked up the book and the sheet of paper and walked over to one of her dressers. She opened a drawer and hid them both under a dress that was too small for her now that she was eight months pregnant.

Once Antigone was confident that they wouldn't be found, she turned and left her room in search of Edmund. The last thing that she wanted was to endanger him in some way, but she needed information, and he was the only one she could trust to get it for her in secret. She simply had to come up with a convincing reason for why she would need the Tenth Division's records.

* * *

 **Author's Note: This chapter went through a lot of rewrites, and I'm not entirely sure if I'm happy with how it turned out. I debated for a long time whether or not to include the poems that I was referencing in the story. For anyone who's wondering, the poems referenced are "There is No Frigate Like a Book" by Emily Dickinson, "Music" by Walter de la Mare, "Evening Solace" by Charlotte Bronte, and "Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou.**

 **As for the poem I wrote, that was something I did just because I wanted to. I've got a character who's inspired to act by a book of poems, I thought I should include at least one poem I wrote myself.**

 **I hope you all liked this chapter because there are going to be more introspective chapters on the way. At the same time, we haven't had an action scene in a while. Wonder if I can do something about that...**

 **Once again, thanks for reading!**


	7. Ulysses: Chapter 3

**August 3rd**

The next morning after their arrival in Renere, Ulysses sat at a desk in his room in the town hall. He took one final look at the letter he had been writing, and signed it.

 _My Dearest Penelope,_

 _We have arrived safely in Renere. We will be staying here until we receive further orders, though I doubt it will be a long wait. I have been given a room in the town hall, though there were not enough for each officer to sleep alone. I shall have to endure Captain Ajan's snoring for a time. I fear it shall make me long for your bed all the more. Still, it is better than sleeping outside in the town square as the men must._

 _There are so many refugees here. We have often heard news of villages being destroyed, but only here can I see the magnitude of it. I cannot imagine how Renere could have enough food to feed them all. I suspect it does not. This war must end soon, or soldiers will not be the only ones dying._

 _I think of you every day, though I hide my sorrow from the soldiers. Here, away from home, I must remain strong so that they might hold their courage. They will never know how it breaks my heart to be away from you._

 _By the time this letter reaches you, it will be eight months. It pains me to know that I will miss the birth of our child, but I swear on every beautiful sight I have ever beheld that I will come back to you. Neither man nor Grimm could keep me from you for long. We will see each other again once this war is over, and then I will finally meet the only person I might ever love more than you._

 _Forever yours,_

 _Ulysses_

The captain folded the letter and slid it into an envelope. He was about to seal it when he heard the sound of a horn from above him. There were three quick blasts, then the sound of a flare being fired.

In an instant, Ulysses was out the door, sword under his arm while he fastened his gauntlet. Ajan was close behind him.

 _A Grimm attack? That's two in two days!_ Ulysses hadn't expected to encounter so many Grimm until he was farther east. It seemed the safety provided by Vale didn't extend past the mountains.

But that took a backseat to more immediate concerns. He hadn't seen the flare, so his first goal was to find out what direction the monsters were coming from.

Outside the town hall, Ulysses saw the soldiers hurriedly readying themselves. The citizens in and around the square quickly returned to their homes. The refugees hid themselves away in their tents and down the alleyways.

Ulysses caught sight of his sergeant in the commotion.

"Murphy!" he called. "I was indoors when the flare was fired. Which way are they?"

"Due east, sir!" replied Murphy quickly, running to meet his captain. "The Stormcallers will be ready to move out momentarily."

Ulysses nodded and turned to Ajan.

"The eastern gate is too small for the whole company. We'll break formation if we all try to go through at once. Please hold your men back until First and Second Platoons have gone through."

Ajan grunted in agreement and hurried off to gather his men. Ulysses may have been the youngest captain in the company, but the others all respected his leadership.

"Stormcallers, to me!" yelled Ulysses as he began jogging to the east. In seconds his platoon formed up around him, ready for combat. They reached the eastern gate quickly and, besides some gunners who had been posted on the watchtowers, found themselves the first ones there. The gates stood open, though there were villagers standing ready to bar them shut. Apparently the Grimm were still some distance out.

The Stormcallers rushed through the gates, and Ulysses caught his first sight of the attackers. A huge pack of Beowolves charged through the fields. Their numbers were immense, but Ulysses was confident that they were nothing the First Company couldn't handle. About five hundred feet away from the walls was a dense forest. The first of the Grimm had already covered half of that distance, but more were still emerging from the trees.

"Blitz charge!" called Ulysses, though his men almost certainly inferred he would order such. The riflemen of all three squads raised their weapons and fired in unison, then drew their swords and ran to catch up with the pikers who were already charging into the gap created by their fire.

The maneuver had been executed flawlessly, just as they had trained, and it took a lot out of the charging Grimm's momentum. Still, the captain wanted to fit one more hit in before his platoon reached the enemy.

Ulysses activated his Semblance and was lifted off his feet as the glowing, translucent form of a destrier appeared beneath him. The shimmering, golden horse carried him ahead of the charging platoon at a gallop, and he reached the lead Beowolf in an instant. A single swing of his sword, timed perfectly with his mount's stride, beheaded the monster. A second later the pikers closed around their captain, impaling the counterattacking Grimm.

The Stormcallers were in formation now. The pikers kept the enemies at bay while the swordsmen attacked through the gaps their comrades created. They were gaining ground every second, stepping over the dissipating bodies of dead Grimm. Ulysses directed his men from horseback, darting in with his sword or slashing with gales of wind wherever he saw an opening. Some of the monsters tried to circle and flank the Stormcallers, but they soon discovered that the gunners First Company had left on the wall were not just for show.

That was when Ulysses noticed a larger Beowolf whose body was covered in bone-white spikes and armor. He watched as several shots from his men bounced harmlessly off the monster as it advanced through the pack of Grimm. The Alpha began charging towards the line of pikes, snarling in rage.

"Clear!" yelled Ulysses, an instant before he sent his mount dashing forward to meet the Alpha. The Stormcallers made way for him to pass through their formation.

As soon as he was past the last of the pikes, Ulysses' mount leapt into the air, higher and farther than any real horse could have. The Alpha was caught completely by surprise and couldn't react in time. The stallion's forelegs crashed into the Grimm's face with enough force to shatter bone.

As the Alpha recoiled from the blow, Ulysses allowed his horse to disappear from beneath him. His momentum carried him into the Grimm's chest, knocking it over. Before the creature could recover, Ulysses thrust his sword into its neck. The creature continued to struggle for a moment, then stopped when the captain wrenched his blade to the side.

Ulysses stood up over the dissipating Grimm to find that the other Beowolves had him surrounded. He raised his sword into a defensive stance, confident that his men would reach him before he was overwhelmed.

In the end they didn't need to. A ball of fire came roaring in from behind Ulysses and exploded in the center of the Grimm on his right. Another fireball came close behind it, incinerating the enemies on his left.

Ulysses spared a quick look back and saw Major Agemus on top of the gate, staff in hand. The major was the most skilled Dust user in First Company, probably in all of the Twelfth Division. At the same time, Ulysses saw the Stormcallers rushing to protect their captain while Second and Third Platoons moved to cover their flanks.

The Grimm didn't last long once all three platoons were together. Those that made it past Major Agemus' storm of fire ran into a wall of pikes and men who knew how to use them. The creatures fought nearly to the last, and those few that tried to retreat were brought down by gunfire or Agemus' Dust.

It was a total victory, with no casualties and few injuries. The Grimm had been numerous, but they hadn't any tricks that the men of First Company weren't ready for. Ulysses nodded to himself in approval, knowing that his men would perform just as well against Mistral.

* * *

 **Author's Note: I thought we were due for another action scene! This actually wasn't a fight just for the sake of a fight though, it's plot-relevant.**

 **If anyone was wondering, I got the idea for Ulysses' Semblance from the Trojan Horse. Odysseus/Ulysses was the one who had the idea for it.**

 **Thanks for reading, everyone!**


	8. Zeke: Chapter 3

**August 4th**

Zeke glanced around the massive, dimly lit chamber where the refugees were sleeping. He wasn't sure what its original purpose had been, but it was large enough to fit two hundred men or, in this case, forty refugee families and their scant few belongings.

They sat in groups by home village. The people from Evergreen Falls formed the largest group, but there were three other villages represented as well. Zeke had been welcomed by all of them after he had claimed to be the sole survivor of Riverbend. His injuries had been bandaged and he had been given a warm cloak to wear over his tattered clothing.

Everyone had accepted Zeke with surprising ease. He had been questioned by a captain when he first arrived at Grimm's Lament, but his story held up. Even the refugees hadn't questioned the idea that Zeke came from a village they had never heard of. In all, he'd been over prepared. Zeke was surprised by the lax security, but he supposed that with refugees from four other villages already in the fortress, his story about losing his home to Grimm had just been too familiar to doubt.

The Valean soldiers had the refugees working to earn their keep. Some of them had spent the day cooking or repairing clothing, while others gathered whatever supplies could be found in the surrounding wood. It was difficult to find much while also avoiding the Mistralians, but it was necessary to keep everyone fed. Zeke himself had been given a bow and sent out hunting with a few other men. He had brought down two deer by himself, which was enough to earn him praise from both the refugees and the soldiers.

Of course, that was all just getting into the fortress. Finding the information he needed was the next step.

He had already gathered some of it. Just by glancing around the room he could see that there were around one hundred twenty refugees hiding out in Grimm's Lament. He had been told earlier in the day that the garrison consisted of three companies of soldiers, though Zeke intended to get a more precise number if he could. He'd already come up with some subtle ways to ask about reinforcements. Now he was going to scout the fortress to see if he could find a weak point.

Slipping away from the refugees would have been trivial even without his Semblance. They trusted each other enough not to post guards on their belongings, and they were too exhausted to stay up particularly late. As soon as Zeke was sure that the people around him were sleeping, he stood and exited the chamber as quietly as he could, invisible as a shadow in a dark room.

Zeke walked through the corridors of Grimm's Lament, heading towards the eastern side of the structure. There was no particular vulnerability he was expecting to find in the fortress. He was simply going to note what was there and assess how it could be exploited. There didn't seem to be any patrols, at least not in this part of the building, but Zeke kept his Semblance active all the same.

As Zeke turned onto a larger corridor, he noticed a beam of moonlight shining across the hallway. He glanced up at the window that was allowing it in. It was small enough and high enough that it wouldn't really compromise the fortress's defense, but it still seemed like an odd place for a window. Then he saw what it was illuminating and was awestruck.

On the right wall of the corridor, a young woman was rendered in stained-glass. Her hair and gown were ivory colored, and she wore a pensive expression on her pale face. Her hands were clasped in front of her, adding to her contemplative demeanor. Other people were depicted in her surroundings, though they were smaller and less detailed. All appeared to be reading, meditating, or performing some other thoughtful activity. The scene behind them was one of a snow-covered forest. The whole image was more than twice the height of a man.

The craftsmanship on display was like nothing Zeke had ever seen. He never would have believed so much detail could be achieved in this medium, but he could make out the facial expressions of every single person depicted in the glass. Each shard of the pane fit naturally, with only the barest slivers of lead holding them in place.

As Zeke stared at the window, enraptured by its beauty, he noticed that a few of the people in the background had animal characteristics. He saw a man with feline ears meditating and a woman with feathers in her hair writing something.

 _It's portraying humans and Faunus together as equals. You'd never see that back home._

Discrimination against Faunus was a fact of life in Mistral. Zeke's own housekeepers had been Faunus slaves when he was growing up. But even though it had been normal, it had never seemed right to Zeke. The idea of a person's fate being decided by birth never really sat well with him. But before he could follow that train of thought too far, he realized something else.

 _It's strange to have a stained-glass window on an interior wall._

Remembering the layout of the fortress, Zeke realized that this was the north wall of the central tower. He peered through the window as best he could, and saw that the base of the tower was a single large room. Statues lined the walls of this room and the floor appeared to bear an elaborate mosaic of tiles. Ornate candlesticks stood around the chamber, enough to make it bright as day if they were all lit. The stairs to the upper floors were tucked away in a corner of the room, barely visible from Zeke's viewpoint.

 _Could Grimm's Lament be some kind of temple?_

As Zeke continued to examine the room, he saw that the far wall also bore a stained-glass window. Without hesitating, he set off back the way he had come, intending to circle the tower to get a look at that image as well. He passed a door that led into the chamber, but decided the risk of running into a Valean soldier in there would be too high, even with his Semblence active.

Turning left to follow the west wall of the tower, Zeke saw that it had a stained-glass window as well, with another window high up on the far wall to illuminate it. When the moon was in the right place, this image would be lit up like the other. For now, only a bit of starlight filtered into the hallway. Zeke ran over to the window, eager to see what it depicted.

This window also showed a beautiful young woman. She wore a green dress and had flowers in her light brown hair. One of her hands held a spade while the other was wiping sweat from her brow. Her satisfied smile suggested that she enjoyed the work she had been doing. Surrounding her were images of people laboring. It was mostly farm work or gardening, but Zeke also saw a group of men building a house and some others making tools. Again, there were several Faunus mixed in among the humans. Every one of the people in the image looked content. The background was a vibrant forest full of flowers and animals. The whole picture was just as enrapturing as the first.

 _First snow and now flowers… Is this what I think it is?_

Zeke stared at the window for a while longer. He was eager to see the next one and confirm his suspicion, but he also wanted to take the time to appreciate the work of art in front of him. After a few minutes, he turned away and hurried to the south wall of the tower.

The woman in this image was even more beautiful than the other two. She had blonde hair and her face was covered in freckles. _Freckles! On a stained-glass window!_ Her arms were spread and her red dress was twirling around her as if she were dancing. She was laughing, and her expression seemed to invite Zeke to dance and laugh along with her. The humans and Faunus that surrounded her were also celebrating and enjoying themselves. Though the window itself was not well-lit, Zeke could tell that the forest surrounding them was meant to be bright and sunny.

 _Winter, spring, and now summer. I was right; it's the Four Maidens._

As soon as Zeke had finished drinking in the beauty of the stained-glass window before him, he ran off to see the one that he knew would be on the east wall of the tower. He remembered that this wall faced an enormous hallway that led to the eastern gate of the fortress. Anyone who entered Grimm's Lament through its main entrance would be greeted by the image of the Fall Maiden.

Zeke turned the corner and came upon an empty frame. A few shards of colored glass still clung to the edges, but nothing was left of the maiden that was supposed to be depicted here.

He stared at the hole in the wall, not even seeing the room that was revealed behind it. His mind desperately searched for some way that this could be a mistake, some reason that the window would be missing but still intact. The empty frame screamed at him of something unfinished, like a story whose last page was torn out.

"Terrible, isn't it?" said a voice from behind Zeke. He spun around to see a man wearing the forest green uniform of Valean soldier walking towards him. The newcomer was the same age as Zeke, and was largely average in appearance aside from a pair of glasses. His uniform marked him as a private. He didn't look angry, and his rifle was still slung over his shoulder.

Zeke glanced down at himself. Somewhere along the line he had lost focus and his Semblance had deactivated. It was only then that he realized how stupid it had been to be distracted by the stained-glass windows.

"I-I'm sorry," stammered Zeke, playing up his nervousness to hide how angry he was at himself. "I just wanted to take a look around. I know I shouldn't have-"

"It's fine," replied the soldier, waving off Zeke's apologies. "I get why you'd want to look around, though I thought all of the refugees had already seen this."

"I only got here last night," answered Zeke. "I spent the whole day hunting outside of the fortress. Nobody ever showed me around this part."

"That's a shame," commented the soldier. "You should definitely get to see this. Honestly you should get to see all four, but the Mistralians made that impossible."

Zeke gave the man a confused look. "How? I thought they hadn't been able to scratch the fortress."

"They sure tried," answered the soldier with a dry chuckle. "They shelled us with everything they had. It bounced right off the Dust in the walls."

 _The walls have Dust in them!_ Zeke had never heard of anything like that. It would make them practically impenetrably if it were done right, or blow the whole place up if it were done wrong. Either way the cost would be astronomical.

"But I guess one shell hit just the right spot," continued the soldier. "The whole place started shaking like a leaf in a windstorm. I guess we should feel lucky that only one of the four windows shattered."

Zeke stared at the empty frame. _We didn't think the artillery had any effect. How terrible that this is the one thing we accomplished._

Zeke's musings were interrupted when the Valean man spoke again. "If the Mistralians get in here they'll finish the job."

"What are you talking about?" asked Zeke, honestly unsure.

"You seriously haven't heard about it? Mantle's destroying anything pretty that they can get their hands on, and that cock-sucking Emperor of Mistral decided to go along with it."

 _The Suppression Act!_ Once Zeke recovered from the shock of hearing the Emperor insulted, he realized that the soldier was right. The act had never been enforced in the capital city, so it hadn't affected Zeke's life very much. But he couldn't deny how likely it was that his comrades would be ordered to smash the other three windows as soon as they breached Grimm's Lament.

"Of course I've heard about it. I just never realized it meant… this."

"Well, that's what they told us," continued the Valean man. "The enemy will destroy any piece of art they get their hands on and throw everyone they capture into slavery." His previously warm voice had become bitter.

Zeke stared at the soldier, a desolate look on his face. He wanted to deny it. He wanted to say that the man was wrong, that he had simply bought into his kingdom's propaganda. But he knew the part about destroying art was true. And the part about enslaving prisoners of war sounded more realistic than Zeke cared to admit.

The soldier saw the look on Zeke's face. "Hey, don't worry about it. We'll stop them. My name's Hector, by the way. What's yours?"

"Zeke," answered the infiltrator. He had been using his real first name and a fake last name. That made it easier to react naturally when someone called him. It was a common enough Valean name anyways.

"Well, Zeke, you've got nothing to worry about. The Mistralians have us outnumbered for now, but we've got three whole regiments on the way to back us up, plus some troops from Vacuo. They'll be here by the end of the week, and there's no way the enemies are getting in here before then. You know why they call this place Grimm's Lament?"

"I guess because the Grimm can't get in," Zeke answered.

Hector nodded. "They say no monster has ever breached these walls. We're not going to let a bunch of Mistralian slavers be the first."

Zeke suddenly felt nauseous. It took everything he had to keep his face neutral. Like anyone, he had been called all kinds of names over the course of his life. But it was devastating to be called a monster and know that he couldn't deny it.

"You OK?" asked Hector after a moment.

"Yeah, I'm fine," answered Zeke, putting on his best fake smile. "I guess I'm still a little worried. But I have faith in you and the other soldiers."

"I'm glad to hear it," replied Hector with a grin. "Anyways, I should be getting back to my patrol, and you should be getting back to bed."

"Yeah, you're probably right," agreed Zeke. "Thanks for not, you know, arresting me or anything."

Hector waved that off with a laugh. He turned and began walking back into the massive stone hall that formed the main entrance of Grimm's Lament.

Zeke took one last look at the empty window frame, then began heading back towards the chamber where the refugees were sleeping. Thinking about the conversation with Hector, he realized that the soldier had told him when the Valean troops would be getting reinforcements, and how many.

 _That's one more objective completed. Now I just have to find a weak point in their defenses._ Zeke realized that some part of him hoped he wouldn't find anything.

* * *

 **Author's Note: I'm afraid this is going to be the last chapter for a little while. I've got final exams and my senior project to think about. There probably won't be any updates for a week or two, but then after that I'll be done with school and able to put some chapters out a lot more quickly! Bear with me everyone, I'm still hoping to finish this fic by the end of May.**

 **Thanks for reading! Drop a review if you have time!**


	9. Antigone: Chapter 3

**August 5** **th**

Antigone sat alone on the bench in the garden, enjoying the sunshine and mentally reciting one of the poems from the book. Much of the past two days had been spent alternating between reading in her room and sitting in the garden. She wished she could bring the book out with her but knew it would be destroyed if anyone saw it.

She heard someone approaching along one of the stone pathways and saw Edmund carrying a large stack of papers, the result of the other thing she had been working on since receiving the book.

Antigone rose from the bench and walked over to meet Edmund. He held the stack of papers out to her.

"Here you are, Princess, the personal records of all officers currently assigned to the Tenth Division."

"Thank you, Edmund, you've been an enormous help," Antigone replied, taking the documents from him. She noticed the apprehensive look on his face. "Is something wrong?"

"I would feel a lot better about this if I knew why you wanted these documents."

"I told you," she answered. "I want to know more about the men who will be keeping my husband safe while he's in Sanus."

Edmund's frown grew deeper. "Anti, you know that I can tell when you're lying to me."

Antigone gave him a sad smile. "It's safer for you if you don't know. Please, just let it go."

Edmund placed a hand on her arm. "You know that whatever it is, I'll help you if I can."

"I know," replied Antigone. She turned and walked away, heading for her room with the records under her arm.

Once there, Antigone laid out the documents on her desk and brought out the list that had been hidden in the book of poetry. Comparing the two, she set aside the records of the twelve officers whose names had been circled.

Flipping through the papers, she found an enormous amount of information about each man. Date and place of birth were obvious inclusions, as were their educational and military backgrounds. But the documents also listed their past occupations and those of their family members. It even included information about their personal lives and relationships.

Antigone wondered if the other kingdoms collected so much data about their military officers. Much of this information could only have been obtained by spying on the men, something that she hadn't expected her father would approve of. On the other hand, he had been the one to banish self-expression from Mantle. Perhaps the soldiers were meant to be perfectly uniform, with any potential spark of individuality carefully monitored.

Whatever the reason, Antigone now had all the information she needed to confirm her suspicions about the men whose names had been circled. She looked through their dossiers one by one, mentally highlighting the important information.

Colonel Anthony Simons was the son of a painter. His mother had given up the craft after the Suppression Act was made law, but she maintained personal relationships with several of her artist friends. These people were listed as friends of Colonel Simons as well.

Major Philip Tereus had played the violin in school and had apparently taken to it with gusto. His record said that he had given it up ten years ago because of the Suppression Act and said nothing more about the subject. He was also the direct subordinate of Colonel Simons, and they were noted as being close friends.

One of the other majors had a father who was in prison for writing poetry. There was a captain whose best friend had once been a somewhat famous sculptor, but was now an unemployed drunk. Another captain had even attended art school and had been a few months from graduation when the Suppression Act shut the school down forever.

Each of the twelve men had some connection to the art and self-expression which the King's decree had made illegal. It was obvious to Antigone that this was the reason their names had been circled. The mystery being how the person who had given her the list got this information. Had they obtained the same records she now possessed? If so, had they gotten them through proper channels or stolen them?

In any case, the artistic backgrounds that these officers had seemed to make them perfect accomplices for Antigone's plan. But she feared it might not be so clear cut as that. These men all had obvious reasons to hate the Suppression Act, but they also chose to join the very military that was enforcing it. Not only that, but they were given positions of power within that military. The bureaucrats who compiled these records were aware of the potential conflicts of interest and had not considered them to be cause for concern. Why should Antigone think otherwise?

In many ways, her plan was ridiculous to begin with. Antigone intended to persuade these officers to oppose the Suppression Act with her. She believed that with their support, she could convince the majority of Tenth Division to refuse to ship out to Sanus. That would be a significant blow to the war effort, but wouldn't put Mantle in any immediate danger. With the backing of an entire division of soldiers, Antigone hoped that she could persuade her father to meet her demands and end both the war and the Suppression Act.

It seemed so simple when she laid it out like that, but Antigone knew that putting it into practice would be far from easy. First she had to convince twelve officers of the Mantelian Army to desert. Even with the support of Mantle's princess, this would undoubtedly be considered treason. After that she had to rely on them to convince their subordinates to go along with the plan, or at least enough of them to prevent the division from shipping out. Even if all of that came to pass, she'd only then be in a position to confront her father and make her case. To call the plan a longshot would be generous.

For a moment, Antigone began to wonder if she was making a mistake. But she quickly pushed that thought from her mind.

 _I have no other strategy, and no other means to make my father listen. If my only alternative is to do nothing, then I must go through with this, however hopeless it seems._

After reading through all of the documents, her next step was to make contact with each officer on the list. Here, at least, Antigone had an opportunity. Paul's birthday party was in two days, and several officers of the Tenth Division had been invited. This would be her chance to speak with some of them and, with any luck, convince them to go along with her plan.

She had two days to figure out what to say.

* * *

 **Author's Note: I'm back, and I'm now a college graduate! I'm going to have a lot more free time now, so I should be able to crank out the rest of the chapters quickly enough. The problem is my editors, who are a bit busier than I am right now. Either they're going to slow down the release schedule a bit, or I'm going to have to release some chapters without them. I want to get this finished and out to you guys, but I also want this story to be as good as I can make it.**

 **In any case, thank you all for reading! Leave a review if you have the time.**


	10. Erebus: Chapter 3

**August 4th**

After two days of walking, the Dust Devils had reached enemy territory. All things considered, the journey could have been a lot worse. The summer heat was easily bearable to natives of Vacuo. The terrain was forested and somewhat rocky, but it wasn't as if they were climbing mountains. They were south of the major battlefronts and hadn't run into any enemy forces yet. Oliver's singing kept spirits high, which made the likelihood of a Grimm attack low.

But now they were in Mistralian territory, and the real mission was about to begin. The unit was tasked with locating and raiding enemy supply lines, stealing what they could carry and destroying what they couldn't.

They had already had one stroke of luck. The previous night, shortly before they would have stopped to make camp, the scouts traveling ahead of the main group located a Mistralian village. After that, the Dust Devils doubled back and made camp a few miles away.

The campsite they found was tucked between two large hills and covered by dense trees on all sides. It wasn't quite as defensible as it could have been, but it was reasonably well hidden, and the hills gave a commanding view of the area.

It was on top of the northern hill that Erebus and Oliver were now standing watch. For his part, Erebus had no complaints about the posting. It had rained the previous night while they had been marching, and it felt nice to let the sun dry his still damp uniform. Despite having to stay alert, this was also an opportunity to just sit and talk with Oliver. The two days of marching had given him little opportunity for that, with everyone else in the platoon either wanting to talk with Oliver about the tavern incident back in Farhaven, or else wanting him to sing.

"When do you think the scouting party will get back?" asked Oliver.

"I don't know, probably not for a while," replied Erebus. Captain Perry and a squad of men had left at sunrise to stake out the Mistralian village. They needed to determine if it was a worthwhile target and, if so, how best to attack it. Erebus figured that would take a while, though he didn't have the requisite training to know for sure. "Why, are you itching for a fight?"

Oliver gave him a look. "You know that's not it. Though actually, I almost wish I'd gone with them. I'd like to see the people we're going to be fighting."

"Why?" asked Erebus. "We'll see them soon enough."

"I know, but by then we'll be shooting at them. You know, we're trying to prepare for combat, and we've never even seen a Mistralian."

"That's not true," replied Erebus. "There were the emissaries."

"It's not like we were the ones personally chasing them out of Vacuo," countered Oliver. "We were what, thirteen when that happened?"

"Twelve," answered Erebus. "I remember it. My dad was in that riot."

Oliver frowned. "Is it a riot if you have soldiers with you? And the king ordered them to be there?"

"That's what the king called it," insisted Erebus. "A royally-sanctioned riot."

"Oh yeah!" said Oliver with a laugh. "How could I forget about that?"

Erebus shrugged. "Your parents tried to stay out of the whole thing, didn't they?"

"Yeah, pretty much," confirmed Oliver. "They didn't like the idea of starting a huge fight like that."

"Mistral and Mantle are the ones who started it," Erebus pointed out.

"Maybe, but what if we're just escalating things by getting involved? How many people died because of Vacuo joining the war?"

"We're standing up for what's right," countered Erebus. "They want to make the rest of Remnant exactly like them. They'd destroy every piece of art in the world and force us all into slavery."

"You're right, of course," Oliver replied quickly. "My parents wanted to stay out of the fight, but it's not an easy choice. Mistral and Mantle want to do things that are just evil, and we all have a duty to stop them. But we're doing it by sending people to die. Are we making things better or worse?"

Erebus was stunned. It wasn't the first time Oliver had indicated that he was uncertain about the war, but Erebus had never realized that his doubts were so serious or complex.

"In the end, I decided to join the army because you did," continued Oliver. "Whatever was going on in the rest of Remnant, I knew I wanted to be here to watch your back."

The thought that Oliver cared about him that much made Erebus feel warm inside. "I'm glad that you're here. Things are going to work out. We'll win this war and keep each other safe."

"And be home in time for happy hour?" chuckled Oliver.

"I think we can make it," answered Erebus with a grin. "Look, you're right that things are complicated, but I think we just need to do what we can to make the situation better. Let's not worry about things that are bigger than us."

"That's what I'm trying to do, at least for now," agreed Oliver. "We're here now, so we should focus on winning the war and getting home safely."

Erebus was about to answer when he saw movement in the direction of the Mistralian village. Looking closely, he made out a group of men in tan uniforms moving towards them through the forest.

"It looks like the captain's back."

"Already?" asked Oliver. Following Erebus' gaze, he spotted the squad approaching.

"Yeah well, it's not like we're the experts on scouting," Erebus pointed out. "They must have had a good reason to come back now." He stood up and walked a little ways down the hill. Cupping his hands around his mouth, he yelled to the rest of the Dust Devils. "Squad of friendlies incoming from the east! Two miles out!"

Sergeant Darcy waved an acknowledgement, and Erebus returned to his post. He and Oliver tracked the squad as it approached the camp. As they got closer, Erebus was able to make out Captain Perry leading the men, his tall figure and huge falchion easily visible. There were no signs of pursuit.

After the squad arrived at camp, Erebus and Oliver waited almost half an hour before Corporal Blageur came to talk with them.

"Captain Perry said that the village was acting as a supply depot. Our squad will be part of the group that's going to hit them tonight."

"Tonight?" asked Oliver.

"Yep," confirmed the corporal. "He said he's got enough information, so there was no point in waiting any longer. Apparently we can handle the garrison if we catch them off guard. The squads that are going will be briefed at 1700 hours, and then we'll leave camp at sundown."

"How many are we sending?" asked Erebus.

"Pretty much everyone," answered Blageur. "We'll just keep a few people back to watch the camp." When he saw there were no more questions, the corporal turned and headed back down the hill.

"Well, it looks like you're going to get to see some Mistralians soon," Erebus said.


	11. Rey: Chapter 3

**August 6th**

Rey stood outside a side gate of the palace complex, leaning against her glaive. True to her word, Captain Tina rarely stationed Rey anywhere a member of the royal family was likely to happen by. Not that it made much difference to her; standing outside of one big door was just as boring as standing outside of any other.

She had been thinking about her conversation with Summer all day, at least to the extent that Rey could focus on any subject for that long. She was often distracted by any little thing that happened around her, but her thoughts quickly returned to the previous night at the tavern.

Summer had made everything sound so simple. Mistral wasn't as musical as it used to be, and if Rey didn't like that then she should do something about it. If something else stood in her way, then she just had to decide what was more important to her.

 _What_ is _most important to me?_

Rey looked out across the city below. The side entrance didn't have the best view of Mistral, but it was still near the peak of the mountain. The large manors of the nobility blocked much of Rey's view with their gaudy decorations and excessively maintained gardens. But by looking past them she could make out some of the districts near the foot of the mountain.

That was where Rey had grown up. She fondly remembered days spent running around the city, going much farther than her parents allowed. Not all of Mistral was safe for a young child, but Rey always had a knack for noticing things that most people ignored. That ability made her aware when real danger was ahead and when she could keep exploring. She knew how to spot every type of ruffian, criminal, and disgruntled noble and how to tell if they were an immediate threat or not.

Rey glanced over to her partner standing to the left of the gate. She had known Lana since they were kids, but she had never been as adventurous as Rey. Hardly any of the other children had been willing to venture as far as Rey had, so they missed out on the best experiences.

Rey had already found many of the places in Mistral that were most worth finding. She snuck into bars and music halls when she was much too young to be allowed in them. It was there that she had fallen in love with the music of Mistral. Exploring up and down the mountain, she found its most beautiful sights. Whether it was a cliff from where she could see the whole city spread out before her, or a view of the surrounding wilderness, or just a spot that was perfect for watching the clouds, Rey had fallen in love with the sights and sounds of Mistral.

Recalling the question that had started this train of thought, Rey realized she had an answer.

 _I love Mistral. That's what's most important to me._

Rey knew that she was willing to fight for her home and, if necessary, die to protect it. Fighting against Vale felt like the right thing to do for Mistral, and so it had to be the right thing to do. Rey smiled at her newfound certainty and returned her gaze to the road in front of the palace entrance.

The she saw the procession approaching the gate, and her face fell.

Leading the march was a two-person rickshaw with the mark of the Imperial family painted in teal on the side. It was being pulled by two Faunus men with canine ears. They wore fancy clothing, but the iron chokers around their necks marked them as slaves. Those chokers were a regular sight for Rey, but she never fully got used to seeing them. Imagining a life with no control and no freedom made her feel physically ill. She suspected that many Mistralians felt the same, though it was rarely talked about.

Riding in the rickshaw was a face Rey hadn't expected to see again. The Mantelian ambassador's gaze passed right over her. Either he didn't recognize her in her uniform, or he simply didn't care that she was a member of the Imperial Guard. Seated beside him was some Imperial bureaucrat, kissing ass at a mile a minute. Rey had seen the man around the palace before, but she couldn't remember his name.

But it was the people following the rickshaw that truly caught her attention. Two Imperial Guardsmen walked side by side, glaives in hand. They weren't from Rey's unit, but she recognized them. She also recognized the handcuffed man they were half-leading, half-dragging along with them. It was the old guitarist from the tavern.

 _That bastard really did have him arrested._

Lana nodded to the Guardsmen. She stepped aside to allow the procession through the open gate. Rey did the same, though she barely perceived what was going on past that point, too lost in her own thoughts.

 _Another musician no longer playing._

The Emperor had intended to let the capital city ignore the Suppression Act and continue enjoying art, but it seemed Mantle had other ideas. Rey was reasonably sure that with the offending musician being dragged into the palace by a Mantelian diplomat, he'd end up in prison. He _had_ broken the law after all, and the Emperor had every intention of maintaining the kingdom's alliance with Mantle.

It disgusted Rey. She had spent hours last night searching for some music to raise her spirits. That man had provided it for her, and now he was going to jail for it. Rey wanted nothing more than to celebrate art, but she was part of an organization that arrested artists.

 _Why fight against Vale when the real threat is right here in Mistral?_

Her eyes widened as she realized just how true that thought ringed. She could go to Sanus and fight for her kingdom, and even win, only to come back to a Mistral that had been stripped of beauty. That terrified her. It would be the furthest possible thing from winning.

Beyond that, Rey now stopped to consider what winning the war would actually mean. Victory would be declared only when all of Vale and Vacuo had been conquered and made into territories of Mistral and Mantle. Once that happened, they'd be saddled with everything wrong about the kingdoms that had subjugated them.

 _If I go to Sanus, I'll be fighting to enforce the Suppression Act... and slavery._

Rey knew for certain now what was most important to her. She knew she was willing to fight for her kingdom, but not for something she didn't believe in. She would gladly fight and die, not to protect her home from Vale, but to stop it from turning into a place that she couldn't call home.

Rey felt a new conviction filling her as she looked out over her city.

 _I won't let Mistral lose its voice._


	12. Interlude: Alone Against the Grimm

Interlude: Alone Against the Grimm

 **August 3** **rd**

An Ursa charged through the woods of Anima towards a teenage girl. The girl swung her hand at the creature, and vines exploded from the underbrush to restrain the beast. The Grimm struggled against its bindings but was held back, its claws inches from the girl's face. She closed her fist, and the vines squeezed the life from the Ursa.

The girl lowered her hand, and the vines went slack. She looked around the forest for any signs of motion. She was surrounded by the corpses of a dozen Grimm, and those were just the ones that hadn't already dissolved.

Finding herself alone, the girl sighed and rested her hands on her knees, breathing heavily. She was far from inexperienced fighting Grimm; in fact she'd killed thousands over the past few years as she traveled across Anima. But it was getting more difficult with each battle. Every day there were more negative emotions attracting the monsters and fewer warriors of Mistral fighting against them. Among the last five villages the girl had visited, she had seen only two trained fighters.

"This can't go on much longer," she whispered to herself. Then she sighed. "At least I'm finished with these ones. Maybe I can finally get some rest."

Having finally caught her breath, the girl picked herself up and began walking to the west. She debated between setting up camp where she was and pressing on to the small village of Shion. Sunset was less than an hour away, so it was unlikely that she would make it before nightfall, or even before midnight. Even so, the thought of sleeping in a warm bed for the first time in weeks was tantalizing.

Torn between her immediate exhaustion and her desire for comfort, the girl decided to look for a vantage point from which she could see the path to Shion and then make her decision there. Continuing through the forest, she quickly came to the edge of a cliff, allowing her to see for miles.

Off in the distance, marching single-file through the forested terrain, the girl saw four Goliaths, each twice as high as the tree line. She saw Death Stalkers the size of houses clustered around the elephantine Grimm, and an enormous King Taijitu slithered beside them. At least a hundred Beowolves surrounded the larger creatures. Nevermore circled in the sky above them. All of the Grimm were heading south. Though it was out of sight from her perch, the girl knew that Shion lay in that direction, alone and defenseless.

The girl sank to her knees and began crying. She curled into a ball, letting her tears fall to the dirt beneath her.

"Grandmother," she sobbed. "I can't do it. I can't keep defending them when all they want to do is destroy themselves. I'm so tired. I'm all alone out here. It's too much."

The girl sat there and cried for a long time, trying to think of what her grandmother might say if she were here right now. Eventually, her thoughts turned to the stories she had been told as a young child.

The girl calmed her breathing and whispered to herself.

"The maiden retrieved a handful of seeds from her basket, and began to dig in the old man's garden. Working through the afternoon, she turned what was once a mere pile of dirt and manure into a beautiful garden, from which life would surely blossom. Her hard work had created something magnificent, and soon they all would benefit from her labor."

The girl stood and wiped the tears from her eyes. Then she looked towards the Grimm framed by the setting sun, and leapt off the cliff.

She sped towards the ground far below, keeping her eyes trained on the monsters far away. As she fell past the tree line, a massive oak reached out and caught her. She landed smoothly on the branch, and as she pushed off it, the tree added its own force to the jump, hurtling her onwards.

As the girl soared through the air, she heard an immense creaking as the oak tree ripped itself out of the ground and followed her, crawling along on its roots and branches. Hundreds of feet further on, another tree reached out and helped her continue her flight, then tore itself from the earth to come with them.

As the girl finally fell to the ground, the land came up to meet her. It softened itself to cushion her fall, then rose up and carried her along in a massive wave of moving earth. Faster than a train, it brought her towards the Grimm as dozens more trees ripped themselves up to join her.

The girl carried no sword, spear, or gun. Anima was her weapon, and with it by her side she was armed and ready.

Her earthen transport finally reached the monsters, effortlessly crushing a dozen Beowolves in a second. The girl leapt upwards, bringing herself to eye level with the lead Goliath. A huge tree nearby twisted itself into the shape of an arm. She threw a punch and an enormous oaken fist hit the Grimm in the face, smashing through its mask of bone.

The girl landed in front of the Grimm's collapsing form, and quickly looked around. A Death Stalker charged towards her, but one of her bark-clad companions reached it before it could cover the distance. Roots wound around its legs and claws while branches wrestled with its stinger. After a moment's struggle, the monster was ripped in half.

The girl heard Beowolves charging behind her, but a gesture sent a giant of earth and wood crashing among them, pulping several with each swing of its oversized fists.

Then she heard a massive trumpeting sound and barely had time to react as a Goliath reared up and stomped down to crush her. She raised her hands and pillars of dirt rose to catch the massive foot.

Her aura wavered and her muscles screamed. Thousands of pounds of force threatened to crush her flat. The girl sank to her knees as the pillars she had conjured were gradually pushed back into the ground. The elementals around her slowed and weakened as the girl began to fear she might be killed. She tried to think of the young women she had met across Anima, considering who might be worthy to inherit her power.

Then the girl remembered the people of Shion, sitting defenseless in the path of this horde of Grimm. She knew that if she died, they would soon follow.

 _It can't end here. I can't keep winning forever, and I can't save everyone. But I can win today, and I can save THEM!_

A war cry escaped her lips.

"I won't surrender!" screamed the maiden, her eyes burning with golden flame.

She thrust her arms to the side and the Goliath's foot was turned away from her. As the creature moved to regain its balance, a vine sprouted up to circle its neck. The massive Grimm was pulled to the ground, its knees buckling beneath it.

"I'll never stop fighting!" she cried, more to herself than the Grimm.

The maiden raised her fist, and a column of earth rose from the ground. Then she brought her arm down and the column smashed into the Goliath's head, crushing it flat.

"You can't break my resolve!"

The flock of Nevermore dove towards the maiden, talons reaching for her. She swiped her hand to the side, and leaves shot up from the ground and the trees. They spiraled into a tornado which cut the Grimm to ribbons.

"I know that I can't save everyone!"

The first Goliath was beginning to pick itself up, but with a wave of the maiden's hands, dozens of thick vines sprouted from the ground to bind it. They tightened sharply, and there was a tremendous snapping sound as the Grimm stopped struggling.

"I know that I can't make them change!"

A dozen more Beowolves charged towards the maiden. She flung her arms to the side and a wave of earth caught them in the flank. Those that weren't crushed completely were flung hundreds of feet in the air.

"But I'll do everything that I can!"

A Goliath swung its tusks back and forth, sweeping aside the trees that attacked it. The maiden stabbed her arm upwards and a fallen oak became a massive wooden spear which pierced the Grimm's stomach. As it reeled in pain, the other trees renewed their attack, tearing at the monster's flesh until it stopped moving.

"There will be peace!"

The King Taijitu grabbed an elemental in its mouth and hurled it away. The Grimm slithered rapidly forwards and reared up over the girl. She made a grasping motion and an enormous hand of dirt rose from the ground to mimic her. It grabbed the serpent's head and crushed it in an iron grip.

The final Goliath turned its head towards the maiden, seeing that all of its companions had been slain. The massive Grimm charged at her, trampling any elementals that got in its way.

The maiden knew that she no longer had the strength to kill a Goliath that size. She had pushed her powers too far and exhausted all of her energy. So she decided to take her power from another source.

"Until that day…"

The maiden focused on the trees around her. She drew upon the energy of the sun that each and every leaf collected. Her eyes and skin began to glow with a warm inner light.

"I'll save everyone that I can!"

She thrust her hands at the charging Grimm, and an enormous beam of light engulfed it. The blast impacted the creature's bony mask, and then grew until it dwarfed the elephantine monster. Brighter than the dawn and hotter than molten steel, the shining beacon could be seen for miles. The Goliath's skin blistered and its blood began to boil. It gave one final trumpet blast as its body dissolved into ash under the intensity of the light.

The maiden turned her eyes skyward, breathing deeply. As the last rays of daylight shone on her face, she could see the stars appearing in the sky. Her body burned from the strain of pushing her powers past their limits, but she felt more alive than she had in a long time.

The Spring Maiden screamed her defiance to the world, and the ground shook in answer to her cry.

* * *

 **Author's Note: This was something I had planned since the beginning. I hope it's as fun to read as it was to write.**

 **Thank you all for reading, please leave a review.**


	13. Antigone: Chapter 4

**August 7th**

Antigone stood near the corner of the crowded ballroom, watching as the people milled about and conversed.

 _It seems bit generous to call this a party._

Just like every other party since the Suppression Act, there was no dancing, no music, and scant decoration. There was little to do after the banquet besides standing around and talking. Antigone suspected that many of the guests wanted to leave early, but feared the social consequences. She didn't blame them.

Antigone, meanwhile, was waiting for the right moment to approach one of the men from the list. Until then she planned to remain as unnoticed as a princess could make herself.

Glancing around, she spied one of her father's advisors walking towards her, likely to discuss her child and wish her luck with the birth. However, his approach was interrupted.

"May I have everyone's attention, please!" called Ethan from the center of the room. A hush fell over the crowd. The guests near Ethan quickly backed away so that everyone could see. Paul was standing next to his brother, and both were smiling.

"On this, my brother's fifteenth birthday, he has made it known that he intends to redouble his training for combat. And while I have every confidence that he could awaken it on his own in time, I have offered to unlock his Aura today."

"And I have accepted his gracious offer," added Paul, trying perhaps a bit too hard to sound regal.

Antigone smiled. It was true that they only made this decision because of the war she disapproved of, but the ritual itself was a sign of brotherhood. It was generally expected that a warrior would unlock his own Aura in a dangerous situation, but as a prince who had never seen live combat, it was unsurprising that Paul was unable to do so. Allowing Ethan to unlock his Aura was a sign of great trust and camaraderie. Antigone found it beautiful, regardless of the circumstances surrounding it.

Ethan approached his brother and placed a hand on his shoulder. His whole body began to glow, and the light quickly spread to Paul. Both of their Auras were the same snow-white color as their father's. When Ethan spoke, his voice was soft and even, yet it carried throughout the room.

"For it is in our minds and spirits that true self lies. Here we are infinite in depth and unbound by limits of the flesh. Though your body may pass, you will live on in the hearts and minds of others. I release your soul, but in my memory I keep you forever."

The Mantelian version of the Aura chant was the closest thing to poetry heard in the kingdom anymore. While the chant wasn't strictly necessary to unlock a person's Aura, it was a time-honored tradition that even the Suppression Act hadn't changed.

Ethan staggered a bit as the light faded from the brothers. Paul reached out to support him, and a moment later the brothers embraced to the applause of the guests.

Antigone clapped with the rest of them, feeling incredibly proud of her brothers. But as the applause died down, she spotted her opportunity.

 _Time to go to work. Time to save them._

Before the advisor from earlier could attempt to speak with her, Antigone crossed the room to where her husband was talking with two military officers. One was tall and blond and wore a colonel's uniform. The other was shorter and dark-haired with a moustache. His uniform marked his as a major. She approached Haemon from the side and placed a hand on his arm.

"Hello, darling."

"Ah, there you are," replied Haemon with a smile. He gestured to the men he had been speaking with. "This is Colonel Anthony Simons and Major Philip Tereus. They'll be serving with me in Sanus."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Your Highness," said Simons as both men bowed.

"The pleasure is mine," replied Antigone.

"We'll let you speak with your husband," said Tereus, beginning to step away.

"Actually," Antigone began as sweetly as she could. "If it's not too much trouble, I'd like to speak with the men who are going to be keeping my husband safe." She smiled at Haemon, trying to look like the doting wife.

All three officers looked surprised.

"It's no trouble at all," answered Simons. Tereus nodded in agreement.

"Alright then," said Haemon. "I'm going to go congratulate your brothers." He then departed towards the large crowd surrounding the two princes.

Speaking to two of the men from the list at once was not ideal. Not only would Antigone have to sway them both, but she would have to convince each that she had convinced the other. Otherwise they would begin to fear that their fellow would report them for treason. But she needed to recruit them as quickly as possible and couldn't think of a good way to separate them. These two were friends, so she hoped they would be less suspicious of one another.

Antigone led the two officers to one of the ballroom's balconies, saying that she needed some fresh air. Of course in reality it was privacy that she wanted, the balcony being empty besides the three of them. Once they were outside, Major Tereus spoke.

"Oh dear, I believe we're about to be interrogated," he laughed.

 _You have no idea._

"Nothing like that," replied Antigone with a chuckle. "I simply wanted to hear your thoughts about the war."

"By all accounts it's been a difficult fight," answered Simons slowly. "But I believe that we can win it. We've got good men-"

"Yes, I know that," interrupted Antigone. "But I want to know what you think you're fighting for."

The two officers glanced at each other.

"For Mantle," answered Simons.

"I'm afraid I don't believe that's true," Antigone said plainly. "Mantle is in no danger. Neither Vale nor Vacuo ever intended to invade Solitas. Attempting it would be suicidal. So why did we join the war?"

"To aid Mistral," answered Tereus. "Our ally was threatened, so we came to help them."

"I don't think Mistral was ever truly threatened either," countered Antigone. "But you're right in that we came to assist our ally. But having sent so many men to die, it has to be asked what we stand to gain from this war. Tell me, what do you think will change if we are victorious?"

Both men were clearly taken aback. They wore confused expressions, and neither was forthcoming with an answer.

"The way I see it," she continued. "The main thing that will change is that all of Remnant will be subject to the Suppression Act. That is what you are fighting for."

The officers looked stunned. Antigone pressed on.

"Mistral accepted the Act to maintain their alliance with us. If we defeat Vale and Vacuo, we will inevitably force it on them as well. We will destroy all examples of art and self-expression throughout Remnant. That is not something I want to allow."

"The Suppression Act is meant to keep us safe," said Tereus, as if reciting it. "Expression brings emotion, and negative emotions attract Grimm."

"But it hasn't worked!" countered Antigone. "Grimm attacks are just as common as they ever were. No, there hasn't been another attack like the one ten years ago, but that was one in a million to begin with."

The officers glanced at each other, and Tereus gave a small shrug. It was clear they knew the truth of what she said.

"And even if the Suppression Act could keep us safe, would it be worth it?" she continued. "What point is there in safety if life is no longer worth living?" She placed a hand on her belly. "My child would be born in a world where they could never express themselves and never know beauty. I don't know if either of you ever intend to have children, but could you imagine leaving Remnant like that for them? Is this truly something you believe is worth fighting for?"

"It's not our place to question the king," replied Simons softly.

"Then whose is it?" cried Antigone. "Someone must be able to question him. He is just as fallible as anyone else, and this time he is wrong! I know it, and I believe you know it as well. Are both of you truly going to ignore your conscience for the sake of obedience?"

The pair were silent for a while. Then Simons turned to Tereus.

"She's right."

Antigone's heart leapt. _I got through to him!_

"Anthony, are you serious?" asked Tereus quietly.

"We've known all along that this was wrong," answered Simons. "When they burnt my mother's paintings… it destroyed her. And now we're going to be a part of that? I told myself it was for Mantle, but I don't want to be the one who destroys all the art in Remnant. Do you?"

Tereus sighed. "No, I don't." He turned to look at Antigone. "What are you asking us to do?"

Antigone took a breath. She had convinced them of this much, now she needed to sell them on the plan.

"I want the Tenth Division to refuse to go to Sanus. That will go a long way to end Mantle's involvement in the war, and it will give me the leverage I need to persuade my father to end the Suppression Act."

"Do you honestly expect us to prevent the whole division from shipping out?" asked Tereus. "I don't even think your husband could do that alone."

"You won't be alone," answered Antigone quickly. "There are several other officers I'm going to persuade to help us. If everyone can convince their soldiers to go along with this, then the vast majority of the Tenth Division will be on our side."

"You need us to convince the enlisted men," Simons stated.

"Can you do it?" asked Antigone hopefully.

The officers glanced at each other again.

"I can probably get my company on board with it," assured Tereus.

"The rest of the regiment poses more of a problem," said Simons. "It would sort of depend on how many other soldiers you got." He paused. "But I'm still not sure about this. What about the men who are still in Sanus?"

"I've thought about them," replied Antigone. "My father may be stubborn, but he has never treated his soldiers as expendable. If they need reinforcements that they can't get, he'll order them to retreat."

Simons nodded. "Alright, then I'd say this is going to come down to just how many officers are going to help us."

Antigone nodded. "I'll keep in touch and let you know how that's going. We can get away with a few letters, but if we send too many it could raise some suspicions."

Tereus sighed. "We're committing treason now."

"You're doing the right thing," assured Antigone, trying not to let it show how much his statement actually scared her.

"I know," the major answered. "That's part of what makes this scary."

"If anything goes wrong, I will do everything I can to make sure the blame falls on me alone," Antigone said with as much confidence as she could manage.

"I don't know how much of a difference it would make," replied Simons. "But we're with you anyways."

"Thank you," Antigone replied, hope filling her. "Thank you so much."

"You don't need to thank us," countered Simons. "This is the right thing to do. We just… needed you to open our eyes."

Antigone nodded. After some quick goodbyes, she returned to the party, hoping to find one of the other officers from the list. There was still a lot of work to be done, but she now truly believed that she had a chance of succeeding.

* * *

 **Author's Note: Hey, she's finally getting somewhere! Get ready for more chapters like this one, Antigone isn't the only one who needs help. Heck, the whole point of this story is that no one could end the Great War alone. I'll try not to retread the same ground too many times with the other characters.**

 **Thanks for reading. Please leave a review.**


	14. Zeke: Chapter 4

**August 5th**

Zeke walked slowly through the trees, too distracted to be as careful or silent as he should have been. He had a simple, wooden hunting bow in one hand and a quiver of equally humble arrows on his back. There were no other people near enough to see. In theory he was hunting food for the refugees, but his thoughts were far from the task at hand.

The depictions of the three maidens and the empty frame where the fourth was supposed to be never left his mind. And with these images came thoughts of his conversation with Hector.

 _The men,_ my _men, are going to smash the windows and enslave the refugees._

Becoming a soldier had never been a choice for Zeke; he was going to follow in his father's footsteps whether he liked it or not. But it was still something he took pride in. He always imagined himself serving his kingdom and creating his own legacy separate from his father's.

But at that moment he felt disgusted to be a part of the Mistralian army. He was a member of an organization that took slaves and smashed art. Worse, he was an officer in that organization.

 _Have the soldiers ever looked at it like this?_

Zeke didn't know the answer to that. On the one hand, they were taught to obey their superiors without question. But, Suppression Act or not, someone had to give the order to destroy whatever art they came across, and someone had to carry it out. Someone had to arrange for prisoners of war to be transported back to Mistral to be sold. It wasn't a machine doing this, there were people making these decisions, and there were people carrying out those orders. And some of them were people that Zeke considered friends.

Zeke imagined Tai smashing the window that depicted the Summer Maiden and felt sick. He then imagined himself doing it and felt even worse.

His musings were interrupted by a hand on his shoulder.

"You doing alright?" asked Hector. Zeke turned to find the Valean soldier standing there with a comforting smile on his face. "You're not going to catch anything just wandering around like that."

"Sorry," replied Zeke. "I'm… not really focused." _Story of my life, lately._

"Let me guess, you're tired because you didn't get much sleep last night?" asked Hector with a wry grin.

Zeke opened his mouth to protest, but then nodded. "Yeah, I guess not. I'm fine; I just need to concentrate on hunting."

"I'll say," agreed Hector. "You were looking glum enough to-"

Hector was cut off by a loud crash and bestial growl. The two men turned to see an Ursa knocking over a tree as it came charging towards them. They had no time to react before it crashed into them, sending both men flying onto their backs.

Zeke leapt to his feet as quickly as he could and saw the Grimm going after Hector. It came to a stop in front of him and reared onto its hind legs. The Valean soldier raised his rifle and fired into the Ursa's chest. It bellowed in pain, but still brought its claw down with enough force to tear long gashes across Hector's neck and chest. The Valean soldier didn't have time to make a sound before he was unconscious.

Zeke didn't even have time to check if the wound was lethal before the Ursa turned on him and charged. Still recovering from the initial hit, he knew he couldn't get out of the way in time.

Zeke activated his Aura an instant before taking the blow. The Grimm's charge knocked him into a tree with enough force to crack the bark, but he was unhurt.

Zeke could feel the injuries that Major Ovid had given him disappearing. The pain from the Ursa's first hit faded quickly as well. His muscles were energized with the power of his Aura, leaving him feeling alert and strong. But he was still facing an Ursa alone.

 _If I had my sword this would be over in a second._ Zeke had dropped the bow when the Ursa struck him, leaving him with just the quiver of arrows and a small hunting knife. He drew the knife, wondering if it could even pierce the Grimm's skin, and settled into a fighting crouch.

 _There should be soldiers and refugees nearby. But I have no way of knowing how long it will take them to reach me or if they'll be armed to kill an Ursa. I should assume I'm on my own._

The Ursa charged again, but this time Zeke was empowered by his Aura. He ran towards it before throwing himself into the air, striking the Grimm with his dagger as he passed over it. He landed behind the creature and discovered that he hadn't even left a scratch on it.

Zeke turned and sprinted towards Hector. He scooped up the soldier's fallen rifle and spun back around to point it at the Ursa, which was charging at him once again. He aimed carefully for the creature's face before firing.

The Grimm flinched back and broke its charge as the shot hit it in the eye. Zeke immediately launched himself towards the creature, stabbing the rifle's bayonet into its exposed throat. Before the Ursa could react, he pulled the trigger again and blew a hole straight through its neck. The creature collapsed and its body began to dissolve.

Zeke panted for a moment before he remembered Hector. He dropped the rifle and ran to the Valean man's side to examine him. His throat had very nearly been ripped out, and he'd bleed to death in a matter of seconds.

Zeke didn't stop to consider what he was doing. He just placed a hand on Hector's chest and closed his eyes.

"For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all. Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul and by my shoulder protect thee."

A yellow glow emanated from Zeke as he spoke. He felt weak as his Aura drained in order to unlock Hector's. But when he opened his eyes, he saw that the Valean man's wounds were disappearing, and that a violet light surrounded him. Zeke breathed a sigh of relief.

Then he heard the sound of a gun being cocked. Zeke turned his head to see a Valean officer pointing a pistol at him. His insignia marked him as a lieutenant, and he had a sword in his other hand. He was fixing Zeke with an intense glare.

"Look, I'm sorry I didn't tell you about my Aura," Zeke blurted out, not having to fake the panic he was feeling. "But if you'll just let me explain-"

"That was the Mistralian version of the chant," interrupted the officer, his voice even.

 _Oh._

Zeke hadn't considered that. He had heard before that Vale had a different version of the Aura chant, but he had no idea what the words were. Explaining why he had kept his Aura a secret would be bad enough, but nothing he told them now would keep him out of a jail cell.

Zeke held the lieutenant's gaze, not saying a word. His Aura had been drained unlocking Hector's, but it was recovering. The longer he could stall, the better off he'd be when a fight inevitably broke out.

"Lieutenant, what's going on?" called a voice. Several soldiers came into view approaching them through the trees.

 _And that's as long as I can afford to wait._

Zeke launched himself over Hector's unconscious form and took off sprinting away from the lieutenant. He narrowly avoided the first shot from the pistol and was already weaving through the woods before the second. He changed direction frequently and kept the trees between himself and the Valeans as much as possible. Several more bullets missed him as he ran.

Zeke spared a quick glance over his shoulder and saw that the lieutenant was pursuing him with speed and agility that only someone with Aura could manage.

 _I should have known; he is an officer after all. I have to find a way to lose him._

Still running at full speed, Zeke drew an arrow from the quiver on his back. He spun around and hurled it straight at the officer's face. The Valean man easily blocked it with his sword, but that was the point. As soon as he was looking at the arrow and not his quarry, Zeke activated his Semblance and changed direction.

The shadows cast by the tree branches provided just enough cover. By the time the lieutenant located Zeke, he'd be too far to catch up.

Zeke continued sprinting until his legs were screaming at him. He stopped and looked around for his pursuers. They were nowhere to be seen.

Using the sun and the tower of Grimm's Lament to get his bearings, Zeke found he was at least a mile to the south of the Valeans' territory. Sighing, he turned east and began walking back to his regiment.

 _Mission failed I guess._

The hike took more than half an hour, giving Zeke plenty of time to think. He thought about the stained-glass windows and how much he didn't want them to be destroyed. He thought about the refugees and how disgusted he was by the thought of seeing them in chains. He thought about Hector and how he had unlocked the man's Aura in order to save him. _Why did I do that?_

As he was crossing the open meadow that separated the Valean and Mistralian camps, he turned back for a moment to look at Grimm's Lament.

"I don't want us to take that fortress," he said aloud. It was an insane thing to say. It was treasonous just to think it. And, Zeke realized, it had even deeper implications.

"I don't want Mistral to win this war."

Of course, he didn't want to lose the war either. That would mean death for his friends and countrymen. But he couldn't live with himself if he helped conquer an entire kingdom, destroyed every piece of art in it, and enslaved its citizens.

 _I want peace. But is there anything I can do to make it happen?_

As he pondered that thought, Zeke continued on towards the Mistralian camp. As he approached from the south, he saw two soldiers from his company standing guard. Zeke walked into view of them with his hands raised.

"Cho, Hori, it's me," he called. "Captain Zeke Pantheon, reporting for duty." They pointed their weapons at him for a moment before recognizing him.

"Captain, you're back!" cried Hori. "I thought you weren't returning until tomorrow."

Zeke chuckled sheepishly. "They found out about my Aura when an Ursa tried to rip my head off and, you know, didn't. It made them a little suspicious." He didn't mention the part where he unlocked an enemy soldier's Aura.

The soldiers glanced at each other. "Permission to speak freely, sir?" requested Cho.

"Granted," answered Zeke, raising an eyebrow.

"All the ways you could have blown your cover and you picked the coolest one possible?" asked Cho, stifling his laughter.

Zeke snorted. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Anyways, you should speak with the Colonel," said Hori. "He'll want a report from you right away. I heard your father is getting impatient to see us take that fortress."

* * *

 **Author's Note: The idea of each kingdom having its own version of the Aura chant was something I came up with awhile ago. Unless the chant is some kind of magic spell, and I don't think it is, it makes sense that different cultures would have different versions. Pyrrha would have used the Mistralian version for Jaune, since that's the one she would have known.**

 **Thanks for reading! Please leave a review.**


	15. Rey: Chapter 4

**August 7th**

Rey sat on her bunk in the Imperial Guard barracks and waited. She had her own apartment, as did most of her comrades, but the unit still had a room in the barracks available to them. Only two of the eighteen officers actually lived there, but they would use the room for meetings or parties sometimes. There hadn't been a training session that day, so it took Rey hours to get the message out that she wanted to meet with everyone.

Dell was the first to arrive, soon followed by eight other officers whose shifts had just ended. Rey handed them each a beer from the case she bought on the way over. This wasn't a party, but it would have been rude to summon everyone without even providing some booze.

The rest of the unit arrived over the next twenty minutes. The nine other women and eight men under Tina's command sat around the barracks drinking their beers and chatting. Most of them had changed out of their uniforms. Once they realized that everyone had arrived, all eyes turned to Rey, waiting to hear exactly why she had called them there.

"So," began Rey, feeling awkward with everyone looking at her. "We're set to leave for Sanus in three days and…"

This was her last chance to turn back. She could just wish them luck and maybe admit to a bit of nervousness, and no one would ever know that she had been considering treason.

 _And I would lose the Mistral I love forever. No, I won't be silent._

"I don't think that we should go," she finished.

The rest of the unit stared at her with confused looks on their faces. After several seconds, Lana spoke.

"Look, Rey, we're all scared but-"

"I'm not scared of dying," interrupted Rey. "I've been thinking a lot about what this war means, both for Mistral and for the rest of Remnant, and I don't know if I want us to win."

"What the hell are you talking about?" asked Sebastian. A chorus of voices echoed his confusion.

"I'm willing to fight for Mistral," Rey pressed on. "But not for something I don't believe in. The Suppression Act. Slavery. That's what we're fighting to bring to Sanus. Are you all prepared to die for those things?"

"It's not that simple," replied Lana.

"Yeah, it really is," countered Rey. "What do you think's going to happen if we win? You can't tell me Vale and Vacuo won't get hit with the Suppression Act. You want to be the ones going around and burning all of their art?" She noticed many of the officers looking uncomfortable at that thought. "And you know who's getting it next? Mistral."

"The Emperor would never allow that," replied Sebastian.

"Are you kidding?" asked Rey. "It's already the law! We can't go on forever just not enforcing it. Mantle won't allow it. Hell, I saw a musician get arrested just yesterday. Either the Emperor will cave to Mantle, or they'll go to war with us next. One way or another, we'll end up living without art."

The others had quieted down. Some looked uncomfortable, some looked pensive, and others just looked scared. Rey knew she was getting through to them, but she had more to say.

"Then there's the Valeans and the Vacuans. I don't think we're going to drag every one of them back to Mistral as slaves, but who knows? Maybe it'll just be the Faunus." Rey looked around at the others. Their shifting and glances at the floor told her that they weren't content with the idea of being slavers.

Rey pressed on, bringing up something she had thought of earlier. "Come to think of it, people were starting to talk about getting rid of slavery before the war started. You remember that? That conversation pretty much ended with the Suppression Act."

A few people looked at her in confusion, while others nodded in agreement. They had been kids when the abolition movement started, and not all of them remembered it. But the ones who did were now realizing when they had stopped hearing about it, and were starting to figure out why.

"The people who spoke out against slavery were artists and writers," continued Rey. "Or at least the ones I heard about were. Either way, they must have protested the Suppression Act and been arrested for it. The Emperor made them disappear. We all know slavery is wrong, but we can't do much about it when self-expression is illegal."

"OK, I get it!" yelled Sebastian, standing up from his seat on a bunk. "This all sucks, but what do you want us to do about it? Is deserting the Guard your entire plan?"

Rey took a deep breath. Her heart was pounding with fear and excitement, but she needed to appear calm for this part.

"Yeah, pretty much." Everyone stared at her in shock. "I don't really know what to do. I just know that I'm willing to do anything I can to end the Suppression Act. And I know that I can't do much if I'm in Sanus fighting for the worst parts of Mistral. I don't know how to solve this, but at the very least I refuse to be part of the problem."

"You're asking us to desert without a plan?" asked Sebastian.

"Yeah, kind of," answered Rey sheepishly. "We'd leave tomorrow and then…we'd figure out what to do next." She shrugged uncertainly.

"Where would we go?" Sebastian demanded. "They'll search our homes, probably our families' homes too."

"I might know a place we could stay for a little while," answered Rey. It was an old warehouse where the mob used to hide things. The Imperial Guard didn't search around there very often, and the mob wasn't what it had been before half the kingdom went off to go to war. It would make a good hiding spot for at least a couple of days.

"We could go to Kuchinashi," suggested Lana. "I hear you can hide just about anything there." Many of the other guards nodded in agreement.

"Hang on, you're all going along with this?" asked Sebastian.

The sixteen other officers of the Imperial Guard glanced around at each other. Then they all looked at Sebastian and nodded.

"Yeah, we are," Dell answered.

Rey released a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding. A part of her couldn't believe she'd gotten through to them. She wasn't even sure if most of them liked her, and now they were willing to desert the Guard with her.

Sebastian stared at the others for a moment, and then sighed. "Fine, I'm in." A cheer went up from the rest of the unit. It was unanimous: they weren't going to Sanus.

"I'll show you the hiding place tonight," said Rey. "You guys pack your bags and meet there tomorrow morning, uh, you know, instead of going to work."

"What about you?" asked Lana.

"I'm going to tell Captain Tina that we're leaving," answered Rey. At that, the others looked at her like she was insane.

"She's not coming with us," Dell cautioned.

"I know that," agreed Rey. "But this doesn't mean anything if we just desert. Someone needs to know why we're leaving."

"So leave a note!" shouted Sebastian.

Rey shook her head. "I have to do this. I have to tell her to her face why I can't fight for her anymore."

"What if you get arrested?" asked Lana.

"Then you go on without me," answered Rey. "But this is _me_ we're talking about, they won't catch me."

The others glanced around at each other, but didn't argue. They knew there was no way to talk Rey out of something once she'd decided she was going to do it.


	16. Erebus: Chapter 4

**August 4th**

Erebus could see much of the village from the top of the hill where the Dust Devils were hiding in a grove of trees, though most of it was darkened. The eight-foot wooden walls that surrounded it blocked a lot of the buildings from view, but the ones he could see were small and wooden. Their roofs had a strange sweeping style to them that Erebus supposed was Mistralian. The larger streets appeared to be made of cobblestone. The guards manning the walls were easily visible, especially with the lanterns they carried.

 _They're there to defend against Grimm, not people. They don't know there are enemies in the area._

He remembered the plan, having only been briefed five hours ago. They were here on the hill to note the locations of the night watchmen. They'd find a section of the wall that the guards couldn't see and plant a breaching charge there. When Captain Perry gave the signal, snipers would start picking off the nearest watchmen from afar, and the explosives would be detonated.

A few minutes after climbing the hill, the captain gave his orders. Erebus and his squad hung back while the demolitions team set up the explosives. Not much was needed to breach a wooden wall, but they used enough to be sure. Once they were finished, everyone took cover as close to the wall as they safely could.

"Everybody ready?" asked Captain Perry, falchion in hand. Erebus and Oliver looked at each other and nodded. The platoon didn't make a sound. "OK, go!"

The detonation of the breaching charge was one of the loudest things Erebus had ever heard. It tore the wall apart like paper, leaving a gap large enough for two men to enter at once. His ears were still ringing from the explosion, but Erebus trusted that the snipers were already targeting the guards at their stations along the wall.

As soon as it was safe, the Dust Devils leapt from cover and began charging through the hole in the wall. They emerged between two houses, but there was still enough space for them to move two abreast. The first soldiers to reach the end of the alleyway took cover beside the houses and swept their eyes over the street beyond, looking for threats.

Captain Perry was close behind them, and, after taking a quick look at his surroundings, shouted his orders to the men.

"Alpha Squad, you're with me. We're heading deeper into the city. Bravo, you go left along the wall. Charlie, same to the right. Let's move!"

As Erebus followed his captain out of the alleyway, he saw the street they were on was deserted. He supposed that the enemy soldiers hadn't been able to reach them yet while the civilians were hiding in their houses.

That was until a man stepped outside of the house to the right of the Dust Devils' position. He had pale skin and dark hair, and his clothing looked strange to Erebus. The man was unarmed and a terrified look appeared on his face as soon as he saw the tan-uniformed soldiers. He returned to his house immediately, so the Dust Devils ignored him. As the squads progressed forward and separated, several other civilians could be seen watching them from windows and doorways, but all stayed safely in their houses.

Erebus and Oliver followed Captain Perry along with the rest of Alpha Squad. They pressed forward into the village, looking for buildings where the Mistralian war supplies might be stored. They heard gunfire to their right, but kept moving, and the sound died down quickly. They found nothing but houses and a few shops until they reached the main street in the center of town.

To the soldiers' right, at the end of the street, was a large building, probably the town hall. In front of it were a dozen men in blue uniforms. They spotted the Dust Devils immediately and aimed their rifles at the Vacuan soldiers.

Captain Perry swept the blade of his falchion along the ground. Using the Dust stored in his weapon, he created a low stone wall from one side of the street to the other. Kneeling behind it gave the Dust Devils cover that the Mistralians lacked. Erebus immediately began firing his rifle into the enemy squad. Several of the men fell to the Vacuan fire while their own shots mostly bounced off Perry's wall. The rest of the Mistralians quickly retreated behind the buildings near the town hall.

That was when Erebus began to hear a low rumbling. But before anyone could react to the noise, its source came driving in from a street to the left of the town hall.

The huge armored vehicle was painted olive green with the mark of Mistral emblazoned on the side. The cannon on its turret was unquestionably the biggest gun that had ever been pointed at Erebus. A machine gun nest sat on top of the turret, with the gunner's head barely poking out above the armored plates. The tank's treads carried it in front of the town hall and the turret swiveled to aim at the Dust Devils.

 _A tank? A TANK?! Where the hell did that come from?!_

"Son of a bitch," whispered Oliver.

"Take cover!" yelled Perry, waving his falchion. More stone appeared to raise and reinforce the wall he had created.

It wasn't enough. The tank's cannon fired and the shell hit the wall right in front of Perry. The explosion shattered the stone barricade and sent him flying off his feet. Even Erebus, several yards away, was knocked over by the force of the blast. Adrenaline took over, and he hurried to take cover behind one of the shops on the side of the road, staying low to avoid machine gun fire.

Once he was hidden from the tank, Erebus looked around for Oliver. He spotted his friend behind a building on the opposite side of the street. He then checked on Perry. The captain's Aura had protected him from the explosion, but now the machine gunner had sighted him. Perry used his Earth Dust to create a shield which kept him alive long enough to dive into cover next to Erebus.

"We need take out that gunner if we're going to have a chance!" yelled the captain. "Move up behind the buildings and surround the tank. I'll try to keep their attention."

Erebus nodded and began to circle to the back of the shop. There were five other men with him including Corporal Blageur. The rest of the squad was with Oliver on the other side of the street.

Erebus and his team reached the next road over from the one that the tank was on, hoping to get close to it while using the buildings to block line of sight. But as soon as they arrived on the street, they saw three blue-uniformed soldiers approaching them from the direction of the town hall.

Erebus ducked back behind the shop, and then leaned around the corner to aim at the Mistralians. He fired his rifle and one of them fell backwards, bleeding from his chest. The enemies were outnumbered and had no cover, so the firefight didn't last long.

"Everyone alive?" asked Blageur. A quick look around confirmed that everyone was, but one man had taken a leg shot while another had been hit in the shoulder. Neither injury was immediately life-threatening, but they would slow the group down significantly. The corporal decided that they would be left in an alley with one other man until a medic could reach them.

It was now down to Erebus, Blageur, and the final member of the group, a grenadier named Ryan. They hurried onwards before returning to the main street, coming in between the shop next to the tank and the next building behind it. From his position between the two buildings, Erebus glanced up at the tank and saw that he still didn't have a clear shot at the machine gunner.

Captain Perry had been running around in view of the tank to distract it, using Dust and his Aura-enhanced speed to stay alive. But he hadn't been alone. From the opposite side of the street, the other group of Dust Devils had been poking out of cover to take shots at the gunner on top of the tank. Apparently none had connected, but the combined distractions kept the enemy on the defensive.

After one of these shots bounced off the armor of the machine gun nest, the gunner looked away from Perry for a second. The captain didn't hesitate to take advantage of the respite. He swung his falchion overhead and a huge, pointed rock appeared in the air, hurtling towards the tank. It struck off center and was deflected by the armor, but the crew still appeared to have been rattled.

As the machine gunner recovered enough to take aim at the captain, Perry sprinted behind a shop on the other side of the street from Erebus. The turret swiveled to track him, and a second later the main cannon fired.

The shell tore through the front of the shop and exploded, shattering the wooden building like it was made of glass. Debris rained all along the road. Erebus saw the flicker of Captain Perry's Aura breaking before a splinter hit Erebus in the face, causing him to turn away. When he did, he ended up looking at the tank.

 _I can see the machine gunner!_

Erebus didn't hesitate. He stepped out of cover and raised his rifle. He aimed for the gunner's head and squeezed the trigger. The Mistralian didn't have time to scream. He just fell forward and slumped over his machine gun.

The reaction was immediate. The driver and main gunner only had small slits to see through. The machine gunner had also been the tank's spotter, and without him they were practically blind. The turret swiveled about, looking for its attacker but finding no one. Erebus was standing in the open, but the enemies had no idea where his shot had come from and only a tiny field of vision with which to look for him.

"Good job," congratulated Blageur as he too stepped out of cover. He casually walked towards the back of the tank with Ryan close behind him. They began to sprint when the tank started moving away from them, apparently having decided to retreat for the moment.

"Oh no you don't," muttered Ryan as he rolled a grenade under the tank. The explosion rocked the armored vehicle and threw one of its treads off the wheels. It tried to keep moving, but only rocked and turned in place.

The turret swiveled once more to look for the person that had immobilized its mount, but before it could target them, Blageur snatched a grenade from Ryan and hurled it into the air. Erebus didn't know if it was dumb luck or if the corporal was just that good, but the grenade landed in the machine gun nest and fell inside the tank.

The grenade shredded the gunner's corpse and almost certainly took out the rest of the crew. It also set off all of the shells still inside the tank. The secondary explosions tore the tank in half and knocked Erebus, Ryan, and Blageur off their feet.

"That was me!" screamed the corporal. "I did that!" He burst out laughing and didn't stop even after he noticed the massive shard of metal embedded in his thigh.

Erebus slowly picked himself up. He'd hit his head when he fell, and he wondered if he had a concussion. He looked around and saw several Dust Devils coming out from their hiding places on the other side of the street. There was no sign of the enemy.

Erebus walked over to the collapsed shop. He found Captain Perry leaning against the wall of the next building, looking dazed but uninjured.

"You did it," mumbled the captain. "Good job." He gave a shaky thumbs up.

Then Erebus spotted a blond, dog-eared head sticking out from a pile of debris.

"Oliver!" he shouted and ran to his friend's side. That was when he got a look at Oliver's body. The whole left side of his face was burned black. One of his hands was missing, and his legs were bent at unnatural angles. A wooden beam was sticking straight through his stomach, and another was embedded in his neck just over the collarbone. Very little of his uniform was still tan with all of the blood soaking it.

"Oliver?" whispered Erebus, kneeling beside the Faunus. There was no answer. Erebus placed a hand on his friend's chest and felt no sign of a heartbeat.

Erebus screamed until his throat was raw.


	17. Ulysses: Chapter 4

**August 3rd**

First Company strode towards the center of Renere to the cheers of grateful townsfolk. There were almost as many out today as there had been when the soldiers first arrived. The men waved at the crowd, basking in the attention.

Ulysses was feeling a bit less jovial. He knew they deserved this after their flawless performance against the Grimm, but he was caught up watching the refugees.

The townsfolk were much as he had expected. Grateful to have been protected from the Grimm, they took as much time as they could spare to appreciate their soldiers. For some, that meant a quick cheer before returning to their daily lives. For others, that meant lining the streets to applaud the men as they passed.

The refugees were a stranger mix. Many had come forward to celebrate alongside the citizens. But just as many stayed where they were, seeming no more cheerful than they had the previous day. They looked after their makeshift dwellings or stared at the soldiers, still as morose as ever.

Ulysses even noticed that some actually looked angry at the men who had protected them from the Grimm. These were the dirtiest and the most injured of the refugees, the ones clinging to a scant few belongings as if they had nothing else. Their faces were full of loss, desperation, and resentment.

Ulysses was considering these people when the man in front of him stopped in his tracks. Lost in thought, the captain bumped into the tall, lanky soldier.

"Look out, Wilson," chuckled Ulysses. "You can't just go stopping in the middle of traffic like that."

Wilson didn't answer. He was staring into the crowd, his eyes as big as saucers. Surprise and fear were written all over his face.

"Something wrong?" asked Ulysses, placing a hand on his man's shoulder. That finally woke Wilson out of his trance, and he turned to his captain, still looking shocked.

"Captain, I…I have to go," stammered the corporal. He then ran off and began pushing his way through the crowd. The people were surprised by his sudden approach, but moved to let him through.

"Murphy!" Ulysses called over his shoulder to the sergeant. "Get the men back to the square. I'm going to see what's up with Wilson." With that, Ulysses followed his man, the crowd parting for him immediately.

"Lyra!" yelled Wilson, running towards an alleyway. Ulysses could see a girl in her late teens sitting there, clutching a backpack. Her clothes were torn and she was covered in dirt. Hearing Wilson's call, she looked up at the approaching soldiers.

"Arthur? Is that you?" The girl stood up and ran to Wilson, grabbing him around the neck in a tight embrace. The corporal stood there looking shocked for a moment before hugging her back.

"Friend of yours?" asked Ulysses, walking up behind them.

"Captain!" yelped Wilson, removing himself from the girl's embrace. "This is Lyra. We grew up together in Red Oak."

Ulysses smiled and nodded to her. He knew that Wilson had grown up in a small village east of the mountains. Then his face fell when he realized what it meant that Lyra was sitting in an alleyway in Renere.

"What are you doing here?" asked Wilson in a voice that said he already knew the answer.

"I…I'm so sorry, Arthur," whispered Lyra, tears filling her eyes. She leaned against the corporal, crying into his shoulder. "The Grimm, they…" She broke down into sobs before she could finish. Wilson held her close, his expression one of desolation.

"Who…who else made it?" he asked quietly after a few seconds.

"A whole bunch of them made it to Lowdale," answered a gruff voice from deeper down the alley. Ulysses turned to see a middle aged man in similarly tattered clothing walking towards them. A pair of wolf ears sprouted from his head. His left arm was reduced to a stump wrapped in bandages. "Then Lowdale got hit too. She's the only one who made it all the way from Red Oak to Renere."

Wilson glared at the Faunus. Ulysses didn't know if he was angry at the stranger's matter-of-fact tone or just angry in general. Either way, Ulysses decided to step in and divert the newcomer, wanting to let Wilson and Lyra try to comfort each other.

"How many Grimm were there?" asked the captain, stepping in front of the Faunus.

"Not too many in Red Oak from what I heard," was the stranger's answer. "But it was enough to overrun the village. The people who made it out came to Lowdale. The same Grimm attacked us the next day. We held them off. Then more came… Only fifteen of us made it all the way to Renere."

"I had no idea the Grimm were getting this bad," mumbled Ulysses. The Faunus gave a humorless chuckle.

"There was nothing to give it away?" He gestured towards the refugees that lined the streets.

"I thought that they were here because of the war," replied Ulysses, genuinely surprised. The stranger laughed again, but this time it sounded angry rather than just sullen.

"That's exactly why they're here! Because there's no one to protect them! All the fighters are off playing war, but it's not Mistral or Mantle that's going around burning cities, it's the Grimm."

Ulysses stared at the man in shock.

"Are you saying…none of these people?"

"Not one!" cried the Faunus. "I've talked to every refugee in this town, and not a soul has even seen an enemy soldier. They're here because their protectors left... and the Grimm didn't stop coming. Lowdale used to have a dozen trained fighters defending us. Then they left to join the army. We filled the ranks back up with farmhands and shopkeepers." The man paused and looked at the ground. "They died bravely."

Ulysses was silent for a while, thinking, but he still couldn't wrap his head around it all.

"Are there more Grimm than there used to be?"

"In total? I couldn't say," answered the refugee. "But it sure feels like there's more when the army's somewhere else. And as soon as one village falls, that'll mean more Grimm attacking the rest. I didn't see the pack your men killed today, but there's a fair chance they would have made it into the city if you hadn't been here."

"No way," countered Ulysses. "There weren't that many. My men dealt with them easily."

"A hundred soldiers managed to take them out?" asked the Faunus sarcastically. "Well, maybe they weren't so bad after all. I'll bet the townsfolk could have handled them without any trouble."

The captain took a step back, his mind reeling. Eventually, he reached the only logical conclusion.

"Have you figured it out, soldier?" asked the refugee. "As soon as your men leave Renere…"

"...It'll be destroyed," finished Ulysses. He slowly turned away from the man, trying to sort out his thoughts. Eventually he walked over to Wilson, who was still embracing Lyra. The man gave his captain a pleading look.

"Corporal…Be back at the town square before nightfall." Wilson nodded gratefully in reply.

Ulysses wandered out of the alleyway and back into the street. The company had finished passing by a while ago, and the crowd had dispersed. He slowly walked towards town hall, pondering everything he had just heard.


	18. Rey: Chapter 5

**August 8th**

Rey stopped outside of the training room of the Imperial Guard barracks and mentally took stock. She was wearing the teal Guard uniform just as she usually would. She had her glaive, which boasted a new white Dust crystal set into the blade. The glaive was loaded with eight rounds and she had two extra clips in her pocket.

Integrating firearms into melee weapons, colloquially known as "also-a-gun" technology, was still in its infancy, but the Imperial Guard had embraced it wholeheartedly. All officers of the Guard wielded polearms with high power rifles built into the hafts. Many considered them unwieldy and rarely fired the guns, but Rey had figured out a few tactics with the recoil. Unfortunately, the training room was a bit too small for her to unleash her full bag of tricks.

Rey didn't want this conversation to turn into a fight, but she knew it probably would. Once she admitted what she was planning to do, Captain Tina wasn't likely to let her leave.

She turned the corner and strode into the large, empty room. Tina was in the center going through a complex sequence with her glaive. Her movements were sharp and aggressive, and her face was a carefully controlled mask. It wasn't unusual for Rey to be a few minutes late for morning drills, but for her to show up late and still be the first one there was unheard of. The occasional twitch of the captain's eye told Rey that she was not taking her unit's tardiness well.

Tina stopped when she heard Rey enter and turned to face her subordinate.

"Rey, do you have any idea where everyone is?"

"They're not coming, Captain."

Tina pursed her lips. "And why not?"

"We're not going to Sanus," answered Rey. Tina raised her eyebrows.

Rey knew she wasn't likely to convince her captain to desert with the rest of the unit. Tina had always been unflinchingly loyal to the Emperor and to the Guard. But Rey felt like she had to try anyways, if only to prove that she truly believed in what she was doing.

 _Well, here it goes._

"I'm not going to fight a war I don't believe in. I joined the Guard to protect Mistral, and now they're sending me halfway across Remnant to conquer another kingdom and enforce a law I can't stand. The Suppression Act is…disgusting. It goes against everything that made me love Mistral. And I refuse to help spread it an inch further. I'm not going to fight for Mistral; I'm going to fight to save it."

Surprisingly, Tina didn't try to interrupt Rey. She simply stood there, staring at her subordinate with a blank expression. Even after Rey finished, the captain waited a moment before speaking.

"I shouldn't be surprised that you would do something as stupid as this. But the fact that you convinced my entire unit to go along with it…I feel like such a failure right now." Tina pointed her glaive at Rey.

"I don't want to fight you, Captain," pleaded Rey, knowing it was pointless.

"Then you shouldn't have betrayed me," Tina answered somberly.

Tina crossed the distance between them in an instant, her glaive stabbing towards Rey's face. The redhead leaned backwards, avoiding the blade by inches, before launching into a counterattack, stabbing at her opponent's chest. Tina moved to parry, but Rey slipped her blade under her opponent's and continued the attack, forcing Tina to back off. By the time she caught Rey's blade on her own, they were in the center of the room, both in en garde stances as if they were about to start a sparring match. The two Guardswomen stared at each other for a moment. Then Rey raised her glaive and attacked.

She charged at her captain with a horizontal slash. Tina immediately moved to parry, but Rey avoided her opponent's blade, turning the slash into a chest-high thrust. Tina stepped back and caught her opponent's blade in a bind, stabbing at Rey's throat. Sensing the riposte by touch more than sight, Rey drew back her glaive to gain leverage and take control of the action. However, Tina reacted immediately by removing her blade from Rey's and launching into a flurry of lightning-quick stabs, each at a different target. Rey made a wide circular parry to ward them off before counterattacking with a sudden thrust at her captain's shoulder. Tina moved into a high guard, but Rey disengaged around the parry and slashed at her captain's waist.

With Rey's speed, most opponents would have been left scrambling to defend against the sudden shift in targets. But Tina had practiced every parry combination extensively and made a graceful transition from high to low guards. She caught Rey's blade and responded with a lightning-fast riposte to the chest. Rey stepped back and launched into a sequence of parries, but the captain avoided each one and continued to press the attack.

Rey and Tina were among the most talented fighters in the Imperial Guard, and with Aura enhancing their speed they were barely visible to the naked eye. Each woman was blocking strikes she didn't have time to consciously perceive, and the flow of battle was changing several times per second.

This was where Rey's usually scatterbrained mind worked best. A half dozen separate trains of thought worked in tandem to win the battle, seeing and responding to Tina's attacks, looking for weaknesses, and assessing both fighters' actions. It continued like this for almost a full minute of nonstop motion, when Rey had a sudden thought.

 _She'll stab at your throat next!_

Rey wasn't entirely sure how she knew this. It was the result of subconsciously noticing tiny details and looking for patterns in her opponent's movements. All fighters did this, but Rey was better than most at doing it without the need for conscious thought.

Regardless of the origin, Rey didn't hesitate to act on this sudden intuition. She stepped forward and displaced her neck in the same instant that Tina lunged toward the now-missing target. With her opponent out of position, it was easy for Rey to score a hit on Tina's chest, damaging her Aura and throwing her further off balance.

Rey pressed her advantage, grabbing and pulling on the haft of Tina's glaive with one hand while stabbing at her wrist with the other. The captain's Aura saved her from losing a hand, but she was forced to let go of her weapon with a pained yelp. Rey tossed the stolen polearm aside, and touched her glaive to the floor between Tina's legs. Focusing on the Dust crystal set into her weapon, Rey created a layer of ice which froze her opponent's shoes in place, ending the fight.

Rey took a step back, unable to keep a grin off her face. "Sorry, Captain, looks like I win."

Tina inhaled slowly and deeply. Rey reacted immediately, backing out of the room and placing her hands over her ears. Neither woman had used her Semblance during the duel. Rey hadn't seen an opportunity to take advantage of hers, and Tina's, a supersonic scream, was dangerous to use in a confined space. But it looked like she was going to risk it to shatter the ice.

"ATTENTION ALL UNITS!" screamed the captain, loud enough to be heard throughout the building, but not loud enough to rupture her own eardrums. "ARREST OFFICER REY ANDERSON FOR DESERTION!"

 _Oh, I probably should have seen that coming._

Rey turned and sprinted down the hall towards the exit. Her way was blocked when two Guardsmen entered from a side passage and ran towards her. They fired their rifles, but Rey dodged the bullets like a river flowing around rocks.

As she closed the distance, the one in the front pointed his glaive at her to keep her back. Rey kept running and as she was about to spear herself on the polearm, she leapt over it feet first. The man only had time to gape in surprise before Rey's foot collided with his face, the dropkick knocking him backwards and off his feet.

As Rey landed, the second guard stabbed at her. She swung her glaive in a rising parry that carried his blade upwards. Using the Dust in her weapon, she froze his polearm so that it was stuck to the ceiling. At the same time, she raised her foot and delivered a front kick to his gut, causing him to double over.

Rey ran past the collapsing man and continued towards the exit at full speed. She hadn't broken either of their Auras, but they would be stunned for at least a few seconds. She turned a corner and kept running, the door to the outside now visible.

Also visible were the two officers, one man and one woman, who were standing between Rey and the doorway. Their glaives were lowered at her in a defensive posture.

 _They're standing a little too far apart. I bet they used to date._

As Rey reached the tips of their weapons, she jumped into the air and activated her Semblance. Kicking her legs, she swam through the gap between them, only dropping back to the ground after she passed through the exit.

Rey continued running once she was outside, but another Guardsman came charging at her from the left. His cut came in at waist height, and was surrounded in fire. Rey was forced to stop and block it rather than trying to slip past. She spared a glance at the newcomer's face.

 _It's Louie! Didn't he always suck at protecting his lower body?_

Rey freed her weapon from his and stabbed at his leg. Sure enough, Louie responded with a sloppy parry that left him out of position for a follow-up. Rey quickly switched to a high attack towards his face, and Louie was too slow to block it. The blade cut across his Aura, causing him to stagger backwards.

However, slowing down to fight Louie had allowed the other man and woman to surround Rey. She could hear one of them approaching her from behind.

Rey pointed her glaive at Louie and pulled the trigger, firing the built-in rifle into his chest. At the same time, she allowed the recoil to launch the weapon backwards, its butt hitting the approaching Guardsman in the face. As he flinched from the hit, Rey touched her blade to the ground at his feet, using her Dust to freeze both his feet and his glaive to the ground. She then turned to the Guardswoman charging at her.

 _Look where her shadow is._

Rey ran forward and then jumped into the air, just high enough to put the sun in her opponent's eyes. The woman barely saw the two-handed slash that put her on the ground and took out most of her Aura. Just to be sure, Rey froze her to the ground while she was on her back.

Louie was slowly picking himself up off the ground, until Rey walked over to him and delivered a swift kick to his head, finishing off his Aura and knocking him unconscious.

"She's over here!" yelled the man that Rey had frozen.

 _Come on, what did I ever do to you?_

Rey didn't bother to look for the people the man was talking to; she just started running towards a house on the other side of the street from the barracks. She heard a few gunshots, but the bullets whizzed past her, missing their mark. When she reached the house, she used her Semblance to swim to its roof, reaching the top of the two-story building in a second. Once there, she ran across the rooftop, leaping to the next building when she reached the edge.

She had crossed three rooftops when she spared a glance back to see if any of her pursuers had scaled the building yet. Seeing that none had, she dropped to the street below and kept running. Citizens cleared the way for her, but she was careful to keep an eye on her surroundings.

 _We're on Fourth Street. Isn't there a patrol around here?_

Rey slowed to a walk and rested her glaive lazily on her shoulder. She was just in time, as two Guardsmen rounded a corner in front of her. She recognized them both, though she couldn't remember the name of the one on the left. The one on the right was Eric, who she had made out with at a party one time.

"Hey guys," greeted Rey casually.

"Hi, Rey," replied Eric with a smile. "What's going on?"

"Nothing much," answered Rey. "Average day, really."

"Arrest her!" yelled someone a block or so behind Rey.

Eric looked towards the voice with a confused expression. Before he could realize what was going on, Rey sprinted behind him and looped her glaive around his neck. Lurching forward, she flipped him over her body and sent him crashing into his partner.

 _Max! That was his name._

As the two men collided and fell toward the ground, Rey did a backflip, her foot catching Max in the face. The force of the kick sent both men sprawling backwards in a heap. Even with Aura, Rey knew it had to have hurt.

That was when Rey noticed that the people surrounding her were backing away with terror on their faces. Some turned and ran, while others just pressed themselves against the buildings as far away as they could get from the crazy woman she must have looked like.

 _Crap. It might be harder to win the hearts and minds of the people when they just saw me beat up an Imperial Guardsman with another Imperial Guardsman._

The terrified citizens had also cleared her pursuers' line of fire. Rey spun around just in time to block a bullet aimed at her skull. A Guardswoman was charging at her with two men a few steps behind her, weapons raised.

The woman was already in the middle of a huge overhead cut. Rey raised her own glaive to block, and once they were in a blade lock she lashed out with her foot, tripping the other woman. As soon as she had fallen, Rey planted her glaive into the ground to freeze her there.

At the same time, she vaulted over the glaive and launched herself towards one of the two shooters, planting her feet into his face. Even as they both fell, she lashed out with her blade at the other guard, striking his Aura and driving him back. She landed in a crouch and fired her rifle twice at the retreating Guardsman. The shots broke his Aura and wounded his leg, causing him to collapse to the ground. As Rey stood up, she used her Dust to freeze the Guardsman who was still stunned from her kick to the face.

Then she saw what was coming at her from down the street. Six more Guardsmen were charging in with weapons raised, and one of them was wearing a captain's uniform.

 _That's a bit much, even for me._

Rey backed away while deflecting the shots that they rained on her as they advanced. Then the captain raised his hand, and tendrils of light stretched from each of his fingers, reaching out to grab Rey.

 _Bad Semblance! Bad!_

Rey threw herself backwards as hard as she could. Using her Semblance, she swam away from the grasping tendrils as fast as possible. At the same time, she raised her glaive and poured as much Aura as she could into the ice Dust crystal. A frigid mist spread from the blade, hiding her from view.

Rey knew that her pursuers could get rid of the mist with some wind Dust, but it would buy her at least a few seconds. There were no good hiding places in the area, but they were at the top of the mountain, so there was always a cliff nearby.

Rey sprinted around the corner just as the mist started to blow away. She saw the cliff up ahead and ran towards it. Silencing her fears, she threw herself over the edge.

Rey plummeted towards the ground hundreds of feet below. If she did nothing to slow her fall, she'd become a stain on the pavement in a residential district near the foot of the mountain. She let herself fall a quarter of the way before activating her Semblance and desperately treading air.

Rey kicked her legs until they were sore, and by the time she reached the ground she had stopped her fall completely. She hovered just over the pavement for a moment before letting herself drop.

 _That was actually pretty fun._

Rey took off through the city, heading for the warehouse where her friends were hiding.

* * *

 **Author's Note: Sorry about that little unexpected hiatus. I've been busy lately, and so have my editors. I wish I could give a planned release schedule, but it's all dependent on when my editors have time for editing.**

 **On the plus side, this chapter was a ton of fun. I hyped Rey up in her first chapter, and now we've finally reached the payoff. I hope you all enjoy it.**

 **Thanks for reading.**


	19. Zeke: Chapter 5

**August 6th**

Zeke stood in the center of the camp with the other officers beside him. The entire regiment was spread out around them, listening attentively to Colonel Ma. They'd been camped out here for days with little to do, and now it looked like a plan had finally been decided on.

Zeke had given his report to Ma the previous evening. Along with the other officers, they'd charted their course of action. In learning that the walls of Grimm's Lament were imbued with Dust, Zeke had discovered that the front gate was the only possible point of entry. It was still a reinforced iron gate, but they possessed enough explosives to breach it.

General Pantheon's forces were a day's march to the north. They could join the attack on Grimm's Lament if necessary, but the general was currently pursuing a Valean battalion and didn't want to give up the chase if it could be avoided. Zeke's estimate of the enemy force was the deciding factor in whether Colonel Ma would request reinforcements or attack immediately.

Zeke had told the truth: they outnumbered the enemy soldiers by a solid margin, and the refugees weren't a credible threat. Attacking without his father's forces would be costly, but most likely successful. Moreover, the Valean reinforcements would be arriving in three days. There was little time to wait.

So now Colonel Ma had gathered the entire regiment to relay the decision: they would immediately begin preparations for the attack.

 _Should I have told them that we'd need my father's help? No, that would just delay the inevitable._

The colonel was now giving specific orders to the lower ranked officers. They'd employ artillery bombardment to keep the Valeans off the battlements. That would let the soldiers advance towards the fortress without taking too much fire in the process. Zeke knew that it was also liable to destroy the other stained-glass windows.

 _If I could stall the attack until the Valean reinforcements got here, that would throw a wrench into things._ Even though this seemed like the best way to protect the fortress, the idea didn't appeal to Zeke. His father wouldn't just give up and go home because the enemy outnumbered him. He would summon more troops and prepare for a large scale battle. There would be massive losses on both sides.

 _No, I can't achieve peace by undermining one side or the other._ Zeke knew what he had to do. He'd been planning it out all night, and now the moment had come.

Waiting for a lull in Ma's speech, Zeke stepped forward from the line of officers and addressed the colonel.

"I'd like to say a few words, sir."

Zeke could feel everyone staring at him. Colonel Ma raised his eyebrows, but nodded in acceptance.

"Go ahead, Captain Pantheon."

Fear took hold of Zeke. What he was about to do would probably get him arrested and possibly executed. One way or another, he was throwing away the life he had always expected to have.

He took a breath and tried to calm himself. _I'm supposed to be a great actor. If I'm scared, I'll just act like someone who isn't._

"As you all know, I was the one who infiltrated Grimm's Lament," began Zeke, just loud enough so that everyone could hear him. "I walked among the enemy, and it's given me a new perspective on this war. I've decided that it's not worth fighting."

The soldiers looked around at each other in disbelief, uncertain as to what they'd just heard.

"Zeke," whispered Colonel Ma, stepping towards the captain. Zeke moved away from the other officers until he stood alone.

"I have seen what's going to happen when we win," he continued. "And I don't like it. Grimm's Lament isn't just a fortress. It's a place of beauty, and it's a shelter for refugees with nowhere else to go. But our job, whether we realize it or not, is to destroy that. Once we break in, our orders will be to destroy every work of art in there, and take all of the refugees as slaves."

Zeke looked directly at Colonel Ma, who stared back at him in shock. He didn't know exactly what was going through the colonel's head at the moment, but he knew that what he'd said was the truth, and Ma couldn't deny it.

"We joined the army to fight for Mistral," Zeke continued slowly. "We wanted to see ourselves as soldiers, protecting our home. But as long as the Suppression Act hangs over this war, we're really just vandals. And if we're dragging our enemies back home in chains, then I suppose we're slavers as well."

The soldiers looked around at each other, unsure of how to react. Zeke was counting on this. Unless his speech somehow convinced the entire regiment to join him, confusion and uncertainty would be the only things that might allow him to succeed.

 _No one's arrested me yet. That's a good sign._

"I know most of you never thought about it like this before. I sure hadn't. But now you have, so it's your choice what to do next. As for me, I've already decided." Zeke walked away from the gathering until he stood outside the camp. He turned back to face them with Grimm's Lament at his back.

"The Suppression Act is not worth fighting for, but there are things inside of Grimm's Lament that are. I will protect them, just as I would protect Mistral if enemies threatened her." He looked around at the conflicted faces of his comrades, soldiers, superiors, and friends. He took a deep breath before speaking again. "If you believe the Suppression Act is worth your life, then come forward and face me."

This was the moment of truth. It should have been suicide to challenge the entire regiment like that. Zeke was counting on the fact that they didn't _want_ to fight him. He stared into their eyes with as much determination as he could muster, daring his fellows to rise.

Again, nobody moved, and Zeke knew he had them. It didn't matter if it was because he was their comrade, because they respected his skill, or just because they feared his father. None of them wanted to be the one to arrest him, and that was good enough.

"The general will hear of this," vowed Colonel Ma. It was the best answer Zeke could hope for. The colonel barked orders to the other officers, and soon the whole regiment had been sent back to work. Some men were reluctant to move, but their commanders shouted them back into line. The last one to leave was Tai, who remained staring at Zeke in disbelief before finally walking back into camp.

Zeke turned to look over the field between himself and Grimm's Lament. While mostly clear, there was one small grove of trees near the middle. Zeke walked over to sit in the shade, figuring he wouldn't be welcome back at the camp.

He sat down facing his regiment. He had placed himself as guardian between them and the Valean fortress, and they weren't willing to cross him. But Zeke knew what was going to happen once Ma contacted his father. The general would want to deal with Zeke himself, and it would only take him a day to reach the camp.

Despite the heat of the midsummer day, Zeke shivered.


	20. Erebus: Chapter 5

**August 5th**

After the tank was destroyed, the Dust Devils were able to complete their mission in good time. Bravo and Charlie squads located the Mistralian supply caches and burned the buildings which housed them to the ground. There was some enemy resistance, but the Dust Devils defeated them with minimal losses. They exited the village by blasting down the front gate just over an hour after their arrival.

The retreating Vacuans carried six bodies with them. Along with Oliver, two other Dust Devils had been killed when the tank blew up the shop they had been using as cover. Another man had been cut down by the tank's machine gun fire. Charlie squad lost two while attacking one of the supply depots.

Erebus barely registered their deaths. He was entirely occupied by the loss of Oliver. After wearing out his voice screaming, numbness had set in, and his mind became an empty void as he helped bear his friend's corpse back to camp.

It was three in the morning when the Dust Devils got out their hatchets and began chopping down trees. The labor helped Erebus keep his mind blank. An hour later, eight large trunks were arranged in a pile, and the bodies of the fallen soldiers were laid on top of them. A bullet's worth of Burn Dust was used to light the pyre.

As Erebus watched the fire grow, he felt his sorrow return in full force. He knelt before the pyre, staring at his friend's soon to be burning corpse, and let his grief wash over him. He didn't try to hide the tears that began to pour down his face or the sobs that wracked his body. He didn't know or care what the rest of the Dust Devils would think of him. The only thing that mattered was that Oliver was gone.

His best friend, the person who made him feel happiest and most comfortable in all of Remnant, was dead. Erebus realized that every time he had ever imagined his future, he pictured Oliver there by his side. Erebus' gaze fell to the ground as he realized that he had nothing now. No hope, dream, or aspiration existed for him in a Remnant without Oliver.

Erebus remembered four years ago when Oliver's mother died. The Faunus sang at her funeral, and his elegy broke the hearts of all who heard it. Erebus desperately wished that he were half as gifted as his friend, that he could make the world understand his sorrow for Oliver the way that Oliver had done for his mother.

But Erebus knew that he would never hear Oliver's voice again. In a way, that was the hardest part of this to reconcile. The singing that had moved his heart like nothing else could was gone forever. Erebus wondered if he could ever find beauty in music again.

On some level he had known this was possible, even likely. They were at war after all, a war that had already claimed thousands of lives. Five other Dust Devils had fallen during this battle. Erebus knew that they probably had people who would miss them just as much as he missed Oliver.

A part of him rebelled against that thought. A voice inside his head screamed that no one would ever mourn for anyone the as much as he mourned for Oliver. The more rational part of him knew that he was being ridiculous, but Erebus didn't feel very rational just then.

He knew why he felt that way. He knew why his sorrow was so overwhelming, but he didn't want to admit it. If he said the words aloud, then they would be real, and he would never be able to take them back, least of all to himself. But Erebus also knew that he couldn't be silent any longer.

He looked up at Oliver's body. His clothes were burning now, wreathing his whole body in flame. The fire cast an ominous light over his face. It was strange to see that face, so accustomed to smiling and laughing, rendered lifeless and charred. The ears that marked him as a Faunus made Erebus smile so many times in the past. In a few minutes they would be nothing but ash. Soon the one person who could always make Erebus happy would be gone, no trace remaining.

"I love you," whispered Erebus, tears blinding him as he finally said the three words he had wanted to for years. "I always have, since I was old enough to know what love is. I think I always will."

Erebus sat there for a long time after that, his eyes squeezed shut as he tried to force the tears to stop. When he finally had himself under control, he rose to his feet and turned away from the fire. He opened his eyes to see the Dust Devils standing around the pyre, silently paying their respects to their fallen comrades. But when Erebus saw his comrades in their uniforms, his thoughts turned to the Mistralian soldiers.

 _I'll kill them._ The thought was unexpected, and the rage behind it was overwhelming. Erebus clenched his hands as he slowly walked away from his friend's body, desire for revenge filling him. _I'll slaughter every one of them! Then I'll go to Mistral and kill their families! I'll make them all hurt, just like-_

Erebus stopped and took one last look over his shoulder. His eyes fell on Oliver's face just as his skin started to dissolve into ash.

All thoughts of vengeance died. He knew that hurting the Mistralians would do nothing to honor Oliver's memory. It would only make him a monster. Even as a soldier, the Faunus had never truly wanted to hurt anyone. He had known everything that was wrong with Vacuo's enemies, but he never let himself hate them, not even in the end.

 _I can't honor him by continuing this war. There's only one way I can._ Erebus glanced around at the other soldiers of the Dust Devils. His friends and comrades, all united in mourning. All still armed.

 _No more killing._


	21. Ulysses: Chapter 5

**August 3rd**

Ulysses sat on his bed, listening to the rain pouring down outside. It was close to midnight, but he couldn't sleep. He was still thinking about the conversation he'd had with the Faunus refugee earlier.

 _While we fight against Mistral and Mantle, the Grimm slaughter our citizens. Does high command know about this?_ Ulysses thought they had to on some level. Rumors of destroyed villages had even reached the citizens of Vale. But as far as he knew, nothing was being done about it. More soldiers were being sent to the front lines every day. Ulysses hadn't heard of any being tasked with protecting against Grimm.

He stood up and walked over to the desk where his letter to Penelope sat. He missed his chance to send it that day, too caught up in his own thoughts. Reading it over, his description of the refugees seemed woefully incomplete.

Ulysses was thinking about writing a new letter when the blare of a horn interrupted his musings. There was one long note to wake everyone up, followed by three short blasts and the sound of a flare being fired in the rain.

 _Again? So soon?_

As Captain Ajan jumped out of bed, Ulysses grabbed his weapon and gauntlet. He was out the door in a second and didn't stop running until he was outside.

There were dozens of tents set up in the square to keep the rain at bay. Ulysses saw his men scrambling to get ready, but between the weather and the time of night it was going to take them longer to prepare themselves than it had earlier.

 _The Stormcallers slowed down by a storm. Disappointing._

Ulysses grabbed a random soldier from the crowd and asked from where the flare had been shot.

"East, Captain, same as before," the man answered.

Ulysses nodded, unsurprised. There was no time to wait for his entire platoon to get themselves together. He activated his Semblance and, once on horseback, yelled to the whole company.

"Get to the eastern gate as soon as your squad is ready!" He was about to take off when a voice called back to him.

"Ulysses, let's go!" The captain turned his head and saw Major Agemus running towards him, staff in hand. Ulysses reached down to pull his commander onto the back of his horse, and they sped off to face the Grimm.

Arriving at the gate, they found it barred shut and heard terrible scratching on the other side. They rushed up a stairway to the battlements above the gate where two soldiers were pouring machine gun fire down to the ground below.

Ulysses looked out from his perch on the wall just as a flash of lightning illuminated the field beyond. His breath caught in his throat.

Creeps filled the space below the wall. Individually, the lizard-like creatures were among the weakest Grimm, but the sheer numbers here were daunting. Ulysses knew the machine gunners were killing dozens and not even making a dent in the enemy force. He also saw Ursae walking among them like siege engines rolling through an infantry brigade. The creatures in the lead had already reached the gate and were clawing at it ferociously, but more were still emerging from the forest hundreds of feet away. It was like a tidal wave of blackness washing over the city, with red eyes and white bone being the only signs to distinguish individual creatures.

 _I've never seen so many Grimm in one place before._

Ulysses was snapped out of his shocked stupor when Major Agemus pointed his staff over the wall and unleashed a bolt of lightning. Fire was the major's preferred weapon, but it would be far less effective in the rain. His staff contained multiple Dust crystals, and he was a master with all of them. Ulysses stepped forward and added to the barrage with blasts of wind from his gauntlet. They were scarcely aiming; there was little need when the Grimm filled the entire field below them.

After a minute of hurling wind into the Grimm, he heard a call from behind and turned to see several squads of soldiers standing ready at the gate. The officers had lined up within earshot of Major Agemus. He considered the situation for a moment before giving his orders.

"Get as many guns as we can up here on the wall. Any rifles that can't fit need to be pointed at the gate. The Grimm are going to break through eventually, and when they do I want them to run into a wall of pikes. Don't let a single one through to menace the villagers. Now move!"

The men rushed to their positions even as more squads arrived from the town square. Soon there were thirty guns pointed down from the wall, firing into the never-ending horde of Grimm. The gate was starting to crack, but waiting behind it were the pikers of First Company, ready to impale any monster that got through. Backing them up were the rest of the company's rifles.

Ulysses returned his attention to dealing with the monsters that swarmed the wall. It was grueling, disheartening work. The men on either side of him poured gunfire into the Grimm, but it made no visible difference. Where one Creep fell, two more took its place. The Ursae took at least dozen shots to bring down, and even when one was killed there was no time for celebration. Every time Ulysses started to think they might be reaching the end, a flash of lightning revealed countless more Grimm advancing through the night. He began to fear that they might run out of ammunition before the enemy ran out of bodies.

The rain continued to pour down on them. A light drizzle might have been soothing in the summer night's heat, but this downpour left the men drenched and uncomfortable. Spirits were as low as they had ever been for First Company.

Yet still the gate held. The Grimm's corpses dissolved into smoke, but the Valean soldiers were killing them so fast that the bodies still formed a barricade, however temporary. That, coupled with the soldiers' ability to pick targets, meant that few Grimm reached the gate.

Ulysses lost all sense of time. He had no way of knowing how long they'd been fighting when he heard it.

A whistling sound filled his ears. Ulysses looked up from the Grimm horde to see a boulder bigger than a car hurtling towards his perch atop the wall. Before he had time to even process what he'd seen, it struck.

The noise was louder than a thunderclap. The stone wall shook, and a moment later Ulysses found he was falling. He hit the ground amidst a pile of rubble, all that remained of the battlements.

The captain slowly picked himself up and looked around. The gates had been shattered and the battlements above them destroyed, leaving a massive gap in the wall. The men who had been atop the wall were rising from the debris as best they could, many having been injured by the fall. Ulysses turned his head towards the Grimm and found them surging forward towards the now exposed soldiers. He was about to give orders to his men when he saw what had thrown the boulder that broke the wall.

 _What the hell…_

It stood more than three times the height of an Ursa, easily the largest Grimm that Ulysses had ever seen. Its body was humanoid, but hugely muscled with long arms like those of an ape. Its legs were akin to some hooved animal, perhaps a goat. White bone plates covered its chest and shoulders like armor. In one hand it carried a tree trunk with roots still clinging to one end. Its mouth was filled with teeth as long and as sharp as daggers. A single crimson eye burned in the center of its head.

And the monster wasn't just standing among its fellow Grimm. It ran towards Renere, covering several yards with each stride, heedless of the Creeps it crushed underfoot. Once it had covered half the distance, the creature bent its legs and launched itself into a long jump. It took Ulysses less than a second to realize where it would land.

"Scatter!" he screamed, sprinting away from the fallen gate.

The ground bucked like a horse and Ulysses was thrown from his feet. He landed a moment later on his back in the muddy grass outside the walls.

A Creep pounced on the fallen captain, its claws digging into his Aura. Adrenaline rushing through him, Ulysses unleashed a blast of wind from his gauntlet, knocking the Grimm away. He sprang to his feet and drew his sword. Two more Creeps rushed the captain and were quickly cut down.

Then he saw the rest of the men who had been thrown by the one-eyed Grimm's impact. Without Aura to protect them, they were being massacred by the Creeps. Ulysses even saw Major Agemus, robbed of his staff by the earlier fall, being swarmed by Grimm. He struggled against them as best he could, before being laid low by the swipe of an Ursa's claw.

"No!" shouted Ulysses, charging towards his commander. He ran as fast as he could, cutting down any Creeps that got in his way. He'd covered half the distance when the one-eyed Grimm stepped in front of him and casually swatted him aside with its club.

Ulysses crashed onto his back. His Aura had saved him from suffering a broken spine, but his body still hurt all over. He watched in horror as the giant Grimm walked slowly towards him. He lay there, too scared to move, as it raised its club above its head.

Then he was blinded as a bolt of lightning filled his vision. When he could see again, a woman was standing between him and the one-eyed Grimm.

She wore a dirty brown cloak over traveler's clothing that had seen better days. Despite this she stood tall and proud, facing down the monster with no sign of fear. She carried no weapon or Dust that Ulysses could see.

The Grimm swung its club at the woman and she raised her hand as if to catch it. Ulysses was nearly lifted off the ground as a gale of wind more powerful than anything he could hope to conjure buffeted the monster, causing it to stagger backwards out of reach of them.

The woman placed her hands together and fire danced between them, apparently too hot for the rain to quench. As the flames grew brighter, she stepped towards the giant Grimm.

 _Lightning, wind, and fire with no sign of Dust? How is she doing that?_

Then the woman stopped and perked her ears at the sound of growling all around her. She spun around and spread her arms. Tiny comets shot from her fingers to strike the Grimm that were charging her from all directions, killing them instantly. This also gave Ulysses his first good look at her face. She was in her mid-thirties and had dirty blonde hair. Dark circles under her eyes marred her otherwise beautiful face. By the time she turned back to the one-eyed Grimm, it had recovered from the blast of wind and was standing ready.

Ulysses realized what he had to do. Chiding himself for giving in to fear, he rose to his feet and picked up his sword from where it had fallen.

"Hey!" he shouted to the woman. "If you can handle the big one, I'll keep the rest of them off your back!" She looked at him and nodded before charging at the massive Grimm, the wind at her back and lightning in her hands.

A part of Ulysses wanted to watch the battle that was about to unfold, but he had a job to do. He turned away from the woman and activated his Semblance. As he was lifted off his feet by the horse appearing beneath him, he took in his surroundings.

He was forty-some yards from the destroyed gate. The field outside the city was no longer filled with endless ranks of Grimm, but there were still a huge number of them around. A massive group was pressing into the gap in the wall, likely doing battle with the pikers of First Company. Ulysses wanted to go help his men, but he knew he needed to defend the mysterious woman so she could defeat the one-eyed Grimm. Dozens of Creeps were surrounding them, slowly stalking forward.

With a thought, Ulysses sent his horse into a gallop. He charged towards the nearest Creep, and it rushed forward to meet him. Ulysses leaned down from his mount and sliced the Grimm in two with his sword. Another Creep came charging at him from the other side, and he quickly shifted so that he could cut that one in half too.

He kept moving through the horde, his blade coming down again and again to dispatch one Creep after another. He rode in large circles around the woman's battle with the one-eyed Grimm, keeping them just out of the corner of his eye.

He had completed his second pass around the battle when an Ursa Major came barreling towards him. Ulysses had to make his horse rear up and back off to avoid the creature's charge. But the monster pressed its attack, swiping its front paws at him. The captain continued backing his horse away from the monster's attacks, before finally seeing an opening. As the Ursa Major made a particularly large slash, Ulysses' mount reared up and kicked it in the face. The Grimm recoiled from the blow, allowing the captain to lunge in and stab it in the throat. He wrenched his sword to the side and beheaded the creature.

Ulysses paused for a moment to catch his breath before realizing that he'd taken too long to dispatch one Grimm. He looked over at the woman and saw four Creeps charging her from behind.

"Look out!" he yelled over the rain. The woman turned a second too late, and the Grimm pounced on her, dragging her to the ground. Lightning flowed from her fingertips, but the creatures had her at a disadvantage, and the one-eyed Grimm was approaching.

Ulysses sent his horse galloping towards her at full speed. He had nearly reached her when the giant Grimm suddenly turned and swung its club at him. The tree trunk passed through Ulysses' mount, dissipating it like mist, and struck the captain in the chest. He was sent flying through the air before crashing into the ground and skipping like a pebble.

As Ulysses lay there, face down in the mud with his entire body hurting, a memory flashed through his mind unbidden.

 _Ulysses entered the ballroom with his fellow officers at either side. The room was crowded with men and women, many of them officers of the Valean military. The ones who weren't wearing forest green uniforms were dressed in their finest clothing. The dancing hadn't gotten underway yet, so people were simply standing around and conversing._

 _But Ulysses saw none of them; his gaze fell only upon her. She was standing on the opposite side of the room with her friends. Her soft features, framed by wavy chocolate brown hair, stood out to Ulysses like a beacon in the dark. Her sapphire eyes glittered even from so far away. Her silver necklace and earrings complemented her slightly tan skin._

 _Her dress clung to her figure, accentuating each curve until it let out a bit past her hips. There, a narrow slit showed just a bit of her left leg, smooth and elegant. The neckline sank low enough to show just the smallest bit of her cleavage, sensual but still tasteful. The dress was a gorgeous violet color that gleamed in the light of the chandeliers._

 _Penelope caught sight of him across the room and her face was illuminated by a vibrant smile. She waved to get his attention, not realizing that she was the only thing in the room that he saw. She was beautiful every time Ulysses laid eyes her, but standing there in that dress wearing a smile that was meant only for him, she was absolutely radiant._

 _Ulysses quickly crossed the room, stepping around or pushing past anyone who came between them. When he reached her, he took her hands and whispered so that only she could hear._

 _"I love you."_

 _A surprised smile crossed her face, the reaction everything he had hoped it would be. He pressed on before she could speak._

 _"I've been searching so long for the right words to tell you that. But when I saw you just now, I realized that nothing beats the simple truth."_

 _She removed her hands from his and placed them around his neck, pulling him down to her so that she could kiss him on the lips. The kiss was soft and slow, saying everything that Ulysses knew she would never be able to with words._

 _"They're the best words I can imagine," she whispered when she finally pulled away, leaving the taste of the kiss still lingering on his lips._

Now Ulysses' lips were covered in mud, and his uniform was torn and drenched in rainwater. He slowly raised his face from the muck to see the woman battling against the one-eyed Grimm. She had apparently dispatched the Creeps that assaulted her, but had been forced onto the defensive, barely holding back the giant Grimm with blasts of wind and fire.

"Penelope," whispered Ulysses, slowly raising his body from the mud. "I won't die here."

He reached out and picked up his sword from where it had fallen nearby.

"I won't leave you to raise our child alone."

Leaning on the sword, he dragged himself to his feet, swaying a bit.

"Whatever it takes, whatever stands in my way…"

He slowly put one foot in front of the other, his pace growing faster with each step.

"I will come BACK TO YOU!"

Drawing on Aura that should have been long broken, Ulysses was lifted off his feet by his Semblance. The rain stung his face as his steed broke into a gallop, closing the distance to the giant Grimm at an incredible speed.

As Ulysses rode, he saw the one-eyed Grimm bring its club down on the woman in a massive overhead slam. She raised her arms and a storm of wind rose up to catch the blow. But even as she held back the tree trunk, the Grimm lashed out with its foot, catching her in the chest and sending her flying away, Aura flashing orange.

Ulysses let out a war cry, and the monster turned its attention to him. It stepped towards him and swung its club in a low sideways sweep that would take the legs out from under his horse.

Just before the blow connected, the steed leapt into the air, clearing the swing and rising towards the Grimm's terrible face. As Ulysses soared through the air, he allowed his mount to disappear from under him and took his sword in a reverse two-handed grip. He screamed as he plunged the blade into the Grimm's single crimson eye, sinking it all the way to the hilt.

The monster let loose a howl of pain that was neither human nor animal. It wrenched its head to the side, and Ulysses was thrown off. He slammed into the ground dozens of feet away, and his Aura finally broke.

When he recovered enough to look up, he saw the massive Grimm staggering around blindly. It swung its club back and forth while its other hand pawed desperately at the sword that was still embedded in its eye.

The woman had risen from where she had been kicked. A handful of Creeps moved to surround her, but with a snap of her fingers the lizard like monsters were consumed in flames. The woman gave Ulysses a quick glance and a nod before turning her attention to the blinded Grimm.

Her eyes began to blaze with golden fire. The wind gathered around her, and she was lifted into the air. She pointed a finger at the monster, and lightning split the sky in two. The creature roared in pain and swung its club about in a vain effort to find whatever had hurt it. The woman thrust her arms at it and lightning struck again and again, the thunder nearly deafening Ulysses. Finally, the pain became too much for the Grimm, and it sank to its knees.

The woman waved her hands in circles, and for a moment the rain stopped hitting the ground, redirected into midair rivers and ponds. She raised one hand and the collected water instantly froze into a dozen spears of ice, each ten feet long.

The woman lowered her hand towards the Grimm, and the spears shot forth in a frozen volley, impaling the monster through the arms, legs, chest, and throat. It was dead before it had a chance to make a sound, kept from falling by the spears that pierced its flesh. Its enormous body began to dissolve into black mist that was quickly dissipated by the rain.

The wind gently lowered the woman to the ground, and the fire in her eyes went out. Ulysses staggered to his feet and glanced around the field. All of the Grimm were dead. The sounds of battle had died down, and the ruined gates of Renere were blocked by a mound of slowly dissolving black corpses. The captain looked over to the woman who had saved them all and found her walking away from both him and the village.

"Wait!" he called, and ran to her as quickly as he could manage. She ignored him and kept walking. "That was unbelievable! It was beyond anything I could imagine, even with all the Dust in the world! With you here, the people will be safe."

She whirled on him, her eyes blazing and her face a mask of rage.

"I can't be everywhere at once!" she screamed with a voice that shook the earth. Ulysses stumbled back from her outburst. They stared at each other for a moment as the anger slowly left her face. "I didn't always have to be. These people used to have protectors of their own. I hunted the biggest and most dangerous hordes, confident that there were others working to handle the rest. But now those protectors have decided they would rather kill each other, and even a lone Beowolf is a disaster waiting to happen."

She let out a slow, shaky breath before continuing. "I haven't slept in days. Every time I close my eyes I think of all the people who could be dying while I rest. But you go on, soldier, and fight for your kingdom… while the Grimm butcher its people." She turned and began to walk away once again.

Ulysses stood there and watched her go, his mind reeling. Hearing this superhuman echo the words of the Faunus refugee gave all his thoughts a sudden clarity. He knew what he had to do.

 _People are dying. Families like mine are dying, and I have the power to stop it._

"You're right!" he called after the woman. She stopped, but didn't turn around. "We are sworn to protect the people of Vale, but by leaving them at the mercy of the Grimm, we have failed them. I will stay in Renere for as long as I am needed. But please, tell me your name before you go."

The woman looked down at the ground and sighed. "I can't tell you my name. It would be better if you didn't speak of me at all. But if you wish, you can think of me as Autumn." Ulysses blinked in surprise at her strange answer and stranger request. She slowly lifted her head to meet his gaze. "Thank you." With that, she turned and walked away from the village and the soldiers that she had saved.

Ulysses watched Autumn until she was out of sight. Then he turned back to Renere and approached the destroyed gate, wondering what to tell his men.

* * *

 **Author's Note: This is a chapter I've been excited for from the very beginning. It took me forever before I was happy with it. I tried to make both the Maidens and the Grimm as dangerous as I think they're supposed to be, and I think it turned out pretty well.**

 **Thanks everyone for reading. Fingers crossed that more chapters will be out soon!**


	22. Antigone: Chapter 5

**August 11th**

Antigone sat at the desk in her room staring at the letter she received that morning. The previous day she had reached the last of the officers from the list. She actually got through to them, every single one. They were with her, and each promised to bring as many soldiers as possible to her side. Finally, she was able to give each man the names of the others. With Edmund's help, she sent a letter to each officer with as much secrecy as possible. Now they were all in on the plan, and they knew who their allies were.

She was surprised to receive a response from Colonel Simons so soon. When she opened the letter in her room, the first four words written on the page chilled her to the core.

 _This won't be enough._

She knew exactly what he meant even before reading the rest of the note. All along she knew that her plan hinged on getting an overwhelming majority of Tenth Division to join their cause. Antigone, unfamiliar with military organization, had no idea if the twelve officers on the list could make that happen. Her primary concern had been convincing them, now her fears had been realized: all of her efforts weren't enough.

When she first read the words, panic seized her. She had failed. Tenth Division would ship out to Sanus and the war would continue. Either Mantle would lose and thousands of her people would die, or they would win and the Suppression Act would spread across Remnant. The gods only knew what would happen to her and her co-conspirators when their attempted treason came to light. When Antigone imagined being jailed in her room while all of her allies were executed, she had nearly written to the officers to immediately call off the plan.

That was before the obvious solution presented itself. If the twelve officers weren't enough, she simply needed a thirteenth. But getting another officer to join the plan at this point would be easier said than done. The Tenth Division was set to leave Mantle in just two days. There was little time to act.

Worse than that was the question of whom she should go to. Her allies had not been chosen randomly; they were the ones most likely to listen. Even they had resisted her arguments at first, others with less reason to hate the Suppression Act would be far more difficult to convince. She could look through the personal files of Tenth Division's remaining officers, but determining who would be most likely to listen might take too long, and Antigone was deathly afraid of making the wrong choice. And even supposing she managed to get one more person to join her, there was the chance that it still wouldn't be enough to guarantee success.

So, with a part of her screaming that it was insanity, Antigone chose the one officer she didn't need a file to learn about, the one officer with the most authority over the division. Antigone decided to bring General Haemon Thebos in on the plan.

There was a reason she had tried to keep the plan a secret from him. Haemon was a born soldier. He came from a noble line with a long history of military service. He had already served one tour of duty in Sanus and was hailed as a war hero for his accomplishments. Haemon was renowned throughout the kingdom even before marrying its princess. Trying to convince him to go against the king's orders would be maddeningly difficult.

But Haemon was also her husband and the father of her child. Antigone hadn't chosen him, but he had always shown her kindness and affection of the sort no one would expect from a mighty general. On some level, she believed that he loved her and would, if nothing else, listen to her.

Antigone rose from her desk and hid the note in the same drawer as the book of poetry. She then opened the door to her room. Her handmaidens were at their posts in the hallway.

"Tell my husband that I wish to speak with him immediately," she commanded them.

"Of course, Princess," replied Irina with a bow. She left in search of the general, leaving Elsa behind in case Antigone needed anything else.

The princess returned to her room to wait, heart pounding in her chest. She tried to think of what to say to convince Haemon, but she couldn't collect her thoughts. Strangely, the idea of confronting her husband was even more terrifying than speaking to the other officers had been.

She didn't have to wait long for him. A few minutes after Irina left, there was a knock at the door.

"Come in," called Antigone as she turned to face her husband. Haemon entered the room with his usual measured stride, yet wore an easy smile on his face. It was a smile he rarely showed to anyone but her.

Haemon had only been inside her room a few times aside from when they made love. As with everything else, he had shown his wife a tenderness that would be completely unexpected to someone who only knew him by reputation. Haemon was a general, known for his many victories and his rigid discipline. Antigone had been nervous on her wedding night, and was surprised when she enjoyed their first time together.

It was that and so many other things Haemon had done for her that made Antigone believe that she could sway him. As she looked into her husband's eyes, some of the dread that had gripped her earlier subsided.

"You wanted to speak with me, dear?" asked Haemon as he closed the door behind him.

"Yes," answered Antigone, slowly stepping closer to him. "I need to ask your help with something."

"Anything," replied Haemon immediately, gently placing his hands on her waist.

Antigone shook her head. "Don't say that before you've heard what it is."

Her husband blinked in surprise, but nodded, waiting for her to continue.

"I want to end the Suppression Act," said Antigone with all the confidence she could manage. Her husband's eyes widened, but she pressed on before he could speak. "And to make that happen, I've convinced twelve officers from your division to refuse to ship out to Sanus."

"Are you out of your mind?" demanded Heamon, backing away from her. She could tell he was working very hard not to shout.

"If so, it's only for waiting this long to do something," she replied. "Mantle has suffered for ten years under this tyranny. Even as a child I knew it was a travesty, and I said nothing until now." She kept her voice even, finding it easier to speak with each word.

"This is treason!" Haemon exclaimed. "And you convinced a dozen of my men to join you in it?"

"I made them see what I saw," Antigone explained. "The Suppression Act is wrong, and opposing it is worth the threat of arrest or execution."

"How? How could this be worth it? You're risking your life. You're risking our child's future!"

"I'm doing this _for_ our child!" countered Antigone, raising her voice for the first time. "And for every other child in Remnant! The thought of them growing up in a world without art, without beauty, without any form of self-expression… it sickens me. What kind of life would that be? They'd scarcely even be people in that state, little more than machines!"

Haemon stared at her in shock. She'd never spoken to him like this before. It was likely that no one had ever spoken to him like this before.

Antigone slowly drew closer to him and placed a hand on his chest.

"Do you love me?" she asked softly.

"Of course I do, but-"

"How?" she interrupted. "How could you possibly love me in a world governed by the Suppression Act? What is love but the purest form of self-expression? The most potent of emotions? You make yourself a criminal just by saying that."

Haemon gaped at her. She knew that she was forcing him to question everything he believed. But now she could give him something new to believe.

"I love you," Antigone whispered, and in that moment she felt it was true. Whatever doubts she may have felt at any other point in their marriage, at that moment she loved him. "You've shown me kindness that you didn't have to. You were never expected to try so hard to make me happy, but you did. You're the one who is going to make me a mother, and I can't imagine anyone I would rather have as the father of my child."

She looked down at her belly, and her smile disappeared.

"But I could never be happy while our child lives under the Suppression Act. I want them to have the same freedom I had for the first thirteen years of my life, freedom to enjoy all the beauty that Remnant has to offer."

She looked back up at Haemon's face to find his eyes glistening with the beginning of tears. The light in his eyes reminded her of something she hadn't considered in a long time.

"I remember the first time I heard what your Semblance is. I immediately realized how beautiful it could be if you wanted it. Did you unlock it before the Suppression Act was decreed?"

Haemon nodded. "Yes, by a few years. I used it a few times to make… art."

"Please show me," begged Antigone, not having to fake how badly she wanted to see it.

Haemon looked into his wife's eyes for a moment, before taking a half step away from her. He slowly removed his gloves and held out his hands with his eyes closed. He took a deep breath, and his palms began to glow with a soft silvery light.

The light washed over Antigone with a comforting warmth. She knew that he could increase the intensity to the point that it would burn flesh, but she had no fear of her husband.

Slowly, glowing comets began to emerge from his hands. They drifted lazily around the couple, leaving behind shining trails that filled Antigone with wonder.

As the comets wound around them, bathing them both in the silver glow, beams flew from Haemon's palms and intersected in front of him. Where they met, shapes appeared in the air before forming into a pair of figures. They lacked detail, but it was obvious to Antigone that they were meant to be a man and woman, facing each other and holding hands.

Slowly, the light faded and disappeared. Haemon opened his eyes and looked at his wife.

"It would have been better, but I haven't used it like that in a long time."

Antigone placed her arms around her husband's neck and pulled him into a kiss. When she finally pulled away, she whispered to him.

"That was the most beautiful thing I've seen in ten years." The couple stood there and smiled at each other for a moment, before Haemon frowned and pulled away.

"You convinced my men to desert the army?" he asked softly.

Antigone became serious. "Yes. Whatever else the war may mean, my father intends to use it to spread the Suppression Act across Remnant. I cannot condone that, and so I've decided to put an end to it. The Tenth Division will not ship out. From there, I will force my father to end both the war and the Suppression Act."

"But you need my help?" His voice was soft and serious, betraying no emotion whatsoever.

She nodded. "I convinced twelve officers to help me, and as I understand it they have the support of their men. But Colonel Simons told me that it isn't enough to prevent the whole division from shipping out. I think that you could make all the difference." She had some reservations about giving him the name of one of her accomplices before she knew his answer, but it was too late to turn back at this point. She had told him everything else about the plan; it would be a useless gesture trying to conceal her partners' identities for the two days until they were supposed to ship out.

The general's face remained a carefully controlled mask, but he wasn't looking his wife in the eye. That alone told her that he was still uncertain.

"Haemon, please," she softly pleaded. "This is for the good of all of Remnant, Mantle included. It's for your soldiers and their families. It's for our child. And it's for me. Please, help me do this. Help me save the world."

Antigone was about to take a step towards her husband, when a sudden jolt of pain shot through her body. She staggered and nearly fell, but Haemon was there in an instant to catch her. He supported her with one arm around her shoulders and the other hovering in front of her.

"What's wrong?" he asked, concern that bordered on fear in his voice. Antigone had never heard him sound afraid before.

She felt another jolt of pain, and there was a pop from inside her abdomen. A moment later, water started leaking from between her legs.

"The baby's coming," she whispered, fear and excitement filling her in equal measure. This wasn't supposed to happen for another week, but it was hardly unusual for a baby to be early.

"We need some help in here!" shouted Haemon at the door.

A moment later, Irina and Elsa rushed into the room, looking back and forth between their princess and her husband.

"You," began Haemon, gesturing his head to the handmaidens. "Help me get her to the doctor. You go on ahead and tell them that she's going into labor." The two women gaped in surprise for a moment. "NOW!" he yelled.

Elsa immediately rushed from the room while Irina moved to help support Antigone. Haemon could have easily lifted her by himself, but not without jostling the baby.

As Antigone was led from her room, practically being carried by Haemon and Irina, she was overcome by conflicting emotions. She'd been waiting for this moment for almost nine months, and now that it was here she was terrified. It wasn't just the pain of childbirth that scared her; she worried about being stuck in the infirmary during this critical phase of her plan.

As they moved through the halls of the palace, everything seemed to rush around her as if the world were moving too quickly. Her breath became short as nervousness filled her. But then Haemon leaned in and whispered in her ear.

"I'm with you."

Antigone looked up at him, the reminder of his presence comforting her. "I know."

"No, I mean your plan," he said. "I'm with you. I'll do everything I can to help."

A smile spread across Antigone's face. She nearly cried from joy. She felt love, both for Haemon and their child, filling her heart and replacing all of the fear from earlier.

She nodded to her husband, and then faced forward. She would concentrate on bringing their baby into the world, and leave the rest to Haemon for now.

* * *

 **Author's Note: Antigone's story was neither the easiest nor the hardest to write. I enjoyed the challenge, and I got to try a lot of new things. From the beginning I was writing for a pregnant woman, something I am never going to be.**

 **In some ways I think that Antigone was the best illustration of what I wanted this story to be. There was no mighty hero saving the day by killing hundreds of enemies, just a person convincing others that peace is better than war. I hope you all enjoyed it. Thanks for reading.**


	23. Erebus: Chapter 6

**August 5th**

Even after being active most of the night, the Dust Devils rose as early as they ever did. Camping in enemy territory didn't allow for laziness.

Erebus hadn't slept at all. Between thinking of Oliver and planning his next move, it was difficult to rest. But by morning, he knew what he had to do.

As the rest of the platoon began to rouse themselves, Erebus was already looking over his gear, as well as Oliver's. He holstered Oliver's pistol and hung Oliver's hatchet from his belt. The Faunus' rifle had been lost during the battle, but Erebus pocketed his extra ammunition. These weapons were all he had to remember his friend by.

Shortly after dawn, the Dust Devils ate breakfast in silence. Erebus joined them, though he didn't have much of an appetite. As everyone was finishing their meals, Captain Perry stepped up to address them.

"We lost good men last night, and we're all still reeling. But our mission was a success, and it's time to press on. There are sure to be more Mistralian settlements in the area, and-"

"How many people will the next one cost us?" demanded Erebus, standing up to face the captain. The Dust Devils stared at him, shocked by the interruption. Then Perry's face hardened.

"I know you and Oliver were close, but you're way out of line. We're soldiers; we do what we have to do to protect our kingdom."

"Is that what we were doing last night?" asked Erebus. "As far as I could tell, we were just killing a bunch of Mistralians and burning their stuff."

"What, you feel bad for them?" sneered Perry. "Mistral wants to take over Remnant! And don't forget what those slavers would have done to Oliver if they got the chance."

"As opposed to you, who threw his life away like it was nothing?"

"How dare you!?" shouted Perry. "Oliver knew the risks-"

"No, he didn't!" interrupted Erebus. "That's exactly the problem! You sent us in there without knowing what we were up against. I thought it was weird that we were attacking the village so soon after finding it. And look at that, we ran into a fucking tank that we didn't fucking know about!"

The captain flinched in surprise. The normally soft-spoken Erebus was now cursing at his superior officer. The Dust Devils stared at him in stunned silence.

Erebus was equally surprised at himself. He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself before continuing. There was one more point he needed to get across.

"I don't really know what to think about this. You're not stupid, so how could you be so careless? Do you hate Mistral so much you just couldn't wait to start killing civilians?"

"Excuse me?" shouted Perry. "I don't recall any of us killing civilians. I certainly didn't give that order."

"No, we just blew holes in their walls, killed their defenders, and torched half their city!" Erebus yelled back. Then he softened his voice so that the Dust Devils had to strain to hear. "I was mourning for Oliver all night, and we didn't see a single Grimm. Where do you think they are?"

The entire platoon fell silent. Erebus kept his eyes locked on Perry, but he could imagine the soldiers standing there with eyes wide and faces pale. He knew his fellow Dust Devils. Many of them were crass, rough, and even violent people. Some of them had seemed genuinely excited kill Mistralians. But the idea of feeding civilians to the Grimm wouldn't sit well with any of them.

"I've had enough of this," continued Erebus. "After everything that's happened, I'm convinced that this war isn't worth fighting, at least not the way we're doing it. Maybe we find some Valean village that needs defending; maybe we just pack up and go home. But I'm done playing the aggressor. And I bet that if we talked to some other units in the area, they'd feel the same."

"That's enough!" yelled Perry, drawing his falchion. "I won't hear talk of desertion among my men."

Erebus opened his mouth to answer, but the captain was done listening. He crossed the distance between them in an instant and brought his blade down in an overhead slash. Erebus barely managed to draw Oliver's hatchet in time to catch the blow. Perry's Aura-enhanced strength nearly knocked the weapon from Erebus' hand.

"Captain!" shouted Sergeant Darcy in shock. Erebus heard several of the Dust Devils rising to their feet.

"Stay back!" Perry yelled in reply. "I'll execute this traitor myself."

Erebus steeled himself. He didn't want to fight Perry, but he couldn't back down now. Using both hands, he pushed back against the officer's weapon while he was distracted by the others. Caught off guard, the captain staggered back a step. Erebus closed in while raising his hatchet, and then brought it down onto Perry's shoulder in a two-handed chop.

The blade glanced off the captain's Aura.

Perry locked eyes with Erebus, and the wayward soldier suddenly had a full sense of the disadvantage he was at. Erebus had seen the captain's Aura protect him from lethal blows before, the Mistralian tank being just one example. But slamming a blade into his shoulder to no effect gave it a whole new context.

 _I thought that he'd be weakened after the battle last night. I guess I was wrong._

Perry swung his falchion again, and Erebus threw himself to the side to avoid the blow. Even so, the blade caught on his belt and nearly tore it off of him. The captain followed up with a horizontal slash, and Erebus barely managed to raise the hatchet in time to block it.

The force of the blow unbalanced him, and he was completely unprepared for the knee that was rammed into his gut an instant later. Erebus was lifted off his feet for a moment and flung away from the captain, staggering backwards

The captain didn't seem bothered by the attempt to gain some distance. He flicked his weapon and activated the Dust crystal inside of it. A fist-sized rock appeared from nowhere and shot at Erebus, catching him in the chest and knocking him onto his back. From the pain in his chest, Erebus thought he had probably cracked a rib or two.

Looking up from his supine position, Erebus saw that the other Dust Devils had backed away, clearing the space where he and Perry were fighting. He also saw the captain slowly striding towards him.

Erebus acted as quickly as he could. He had dropped the hatchet when he fell, but he now drew Oliver's pistol and fired it at Perry. The captain raised his weapon and arms in front of his face. He wasn't fast enough to catch the bullet with his sword, but his Aura protected him as the shot clipped his arm. Still, this was enough to distract him from what Erebus did next.

Erebus tore his ammo belt off with one hand, a feat made easier by the damage it had taken earlier, and threw it at Perry's feet. As he aimed the pistol again, he thought of something Oliver had said about their unit's nickname.

 _We use Dust in battle… and we're real devils with it._

Erebus pulled the trigger and his shot connected with the belt. The shot activated the Burn Dust in each of the bullets, creating a chain of explosions that echoed through the camp. A plume of fire rocketed into the air, and the soldiers watching the fight were thrown off their feet. Erebus felt the heat searing his skin, and the shockwave threw his head back against the ground.

When the explosion died down the camp was silent. Still in a daze, Erebus forced himself to lift his head. There was a smoking crater in the middle of the camp. All around it, Dust Devils were picking themselves up from where they had fallen. It looked as if they were unharmed, having been standing a good distance away from the explosion. Erebus turned his gaze back to the crater.

Then Captain Perry came staggering out of the smoke, falchion in hand. His uniform was charred and there were burns on his chest and legs. His Aura had been broken, but he was still standing. He strode slowly towards Erebus, rage burning in his eyes.

Erebus tried to move, to get up and fight, but his head was swimming, and his whole body hurt. As the captain drew closer, Erebus realized that he had failed. Perry raised his weapon for a killing blow.

Then a gunshot rang out through the camp. The two combatants turned to look at Sergeant Darcy, who was pointing a smoking gun into the air. They watched as he leveled the pistol at his captain.

"Sergeant, what the hell do you think you're doing?" demanded Perry.

"That's enough, Captain," answered Darcy, his voice shaking slightly. "I won't let you just kill Erebus like this, not when he's right."

"He's _right_?" repeated Perry, voice strained with anger.

"This has gone too far," Darcy continued. "We threw our men's lives away, and we left a bunch of civvies to get eaten by the Grimm. That is… the most fucked up thing I've ever been a part of. I don't really know who to blame or what we should do next, but I can't continue with this."

"I'll tell you the first thing we should do!" shouted Corporal Blageur from the other side of camp. He was struggling to stand with his leg injured, but his voice carried no less weight for it. "Let's go back to that village and see if there are any survivors. I'm not sitting back while a bunch of people get eaten. I'd rather help Mistralians than Grimm. Who's with me?"

Erebus was stunned to hear the entire platoon shout in agreement. He looked around and saw that every single Dust Devil was standing and staring down Captain Perry, apparently ready to jump into a fight with Grimm to protect their kingdom's enemy.

Perry looked around, seeing all of his men arrayed against him. He sneered and tossed his weapon to the ground in contempt.

"Fine. I can't very well go against all of you." He walked over to the grassy hillside and sat down. "Go ahead and do what you want, but as soon as I've recovered I'm going back out there to finish my mission."

Darcy and a few other men walked over and helped Erebus to his feet.

"We'll need to move fast if we're going to save anyone," Erebus said.

Darcy nodded in agreement. "Alright, the injured will stay here with a few others for protection," he called to the men. "Everyone else, grab your gear and let's get moving!"

In spite of his ribs, Erebus ran to grab his rifle and go with them. He wasn't the only injured person doing so either.

Erebus gave a sad smile as he picked up his weapon, ready to use it to protect instead of just to kill.

 _Oliver, are you proud of us?_

* * *

 **Author's Note: Erebus and Oliver's story was, from start to finish, the one that I was the least sure of, but I think it turned out well in the end. I had never written anything that was quite so tragic, and I hope I handled Oliver's death well. Leave a review if there's anything you liked or thought could have been better.**

 **Thanks for reading!**


	24. Rey: Chapter 6

**August 9th**

Rey skulked through the streets of Mistral, a hooded cloak hiding her hair and face. It was amazing how quickly the wanted posters had gone up, and hers were twice as common as the rest of the unit's. It was likely that everyone in the city now knew that she was guilty of "Desertion and Assaulting an Imperial Guard Officer." Walking around in the open was dangerous, but there was something she needed to do, and while she was the most recognizable of the deserters, she was also the best at avoiding capture.

The warehouse where her comrades were hiding was on the lower part of the mountain, not far from the edge of the city. The walls would be guarded, but Rey knew a couple ways to escape unseen. All she needed was to check the positions of the guards first. She was currently heading for a secluded cliff face that would offer a perfect view of the lower half of the mountain. From there, she'd be able to plot a course out of Mistral that would allow her and her friends to avoid detection.

In many places, a woman in a hooded cloak might have been suspicious. The lower section of Mistral was not such a place. Half the people Rey passed on the street were hiding their faces in one way or another.

Arriving at her destination, Rey began to look for spots of teal in the crowd below. She noted where the guards were positioned across the city wall. She was about to start looking for patrols when something off to the west caught her eye.

A massive wave of black was pouring from the forests surrounding Mistral. The force that approached the city looked more like a sea of darkness than a horde of monsters, but Rey recognized what was coming.

 _That's a lot of Grimm._

No sooner had she finished that thought than sirens began to blare all across the city. Every citizen knew this as the warning of a Grimm attack, and even mobsters and thieves returned to their homes as quickly as possible.

Rey felt fear rising up in her. The city garrison was gone, having been sent to Sanus weeks ago. The Imperial Guard would have to deal with this threat alone.

 _Alone and missing a unit of its best fighters._

Rey shook her head. Would the eighteen of them really make a difference? The Guard could handle this without them.

 _Am I willing to bet Mistral's safety on that?_

Rey realized immediately that she wasn't. Mistral was her home, and she'd already decided that she was willing to risk her life to protect it. Deserting the Imperial Guard hadn't changed that conviction.

She was about to throw herself off the cliff and air-swim back to the warehouse, when she heard a voice beside her.

"Hi there, Rey."

The former Guardswoman flinched in surprise and spun around to see Summer. The girl was hovering just off the edge of the cliff as if gravity meant nothing to her. She was wearing the same clothes from the first time they had met. She carried a longbow that, while certainly well-made, didn't appear to have any Dust modifications. She had a satchel and a quiver of arrows slung over one shoulder.

"Uh, hi, Summer," Rey managed, still shocked at having been snuck up on.

"I need you to do something for me," Summer began cheerfully. "There's another horde of Grimm coming in from the north. If I get the jump on them now, I can take them all out at once, but that'll be harder once they reach the city."

"You're going to kill them all with a bow and arrow?" asked Rey.

"Totally!" replied Summer with a grin. "But that'll mean leaving those ones over there to you. Can you handle them?"

Rey blinked, still surprised at Summer's sudden appearance and subsequent claim that she could destroy a whole horde of Grimm by herself. But the request wasn't something she had to think about, it had already been her plan to fight.

"You can count on me."

"Awesome!" cheered Summer. She flew forward suddenly and threw her arms around Rey, nearly dragging her off the cliff. She let go an instant later and began digging in her satchel. "Here, I've got a present for you."

The mysterious girl pulled a small device out of her bag and tossed it to Rey. It was a metal rod a hand's-breadth long. At one end was a copper ring a few inches in diameter. A Dust crystal was suspended in the center of the ring by four wires. More Dust crystals were attached around the outside of the ring.

"A megaphone?" asked Rey. Even from a few inches away, the device picked up her voice and echoed her words louder.

"Yep, I thought it might come in handy," confirmed Summer. Rey glanced back up at the girl to find her turning in mid-air to leave.

"Wait!" called Rey. "How will this come in handy? What makes you think that?"

"My Semblance," Summer replied as if that cleared everything up. "Good luck!" With that she flew off, quickly disappearing from view. The girl flew very fast.

Rey stared after her, thoroughly confused.

 _What the heck was that? And if her Semblance is clairvoyance or whatever, how was she flying?_

Remembering she had more pressing concerns, Rey pocketed the megaphone and jumped off the edge of the cliff. She dove towards the warehouse where her friends were, using her Semblance to control her descent.

Arriving a minute later, she ran inside to see her fellow deserters frantically readying themselves for battle. Most of them had been wearing clothing meant to conceal their identities, and were now hurriedly changing into suitable combat attire. Others were grabbing their weapons and checking that they had ammunition and Dust.

"You heard the sirens?" asked Rey.

"Yep," answered Sebastian.

"And we're gonna go fight the Grimm?" asked Rey.

"Yep," answered Dell.

Rey grinned with pride. "I knew I could count on you guys."

She ran over to her belongings and tore off the hooded cloak. The casual clothing she wore underneath wasn't meant for battle, but it would do well enough, and Rey didn't want to take the time to change. As she picked up her glaive, her eyes fell on her discarded Imperial Guard uniform. She hesitated for a moment, but then threw the teal jacket on before rushing to the warehouse door where the others were waiting. Some looked surprised at her decision to wear a part of her old uniform, but there was no time for comments.

They exited the warehouse and sprinted towards the western gate of Mistral, with Rey leading the way. The streets were mostly clear, but some people were still out. Those that saw the former Guardsmen stared in shock at the sight of eighteen wanted criminals charging into the middle of a Grimm attack.

Rey's unit arrived at the gate minutes later. When it was first founded, Mistral had been confined to the upper levels of the mountain, out of reach of most Grimm. But as the city grew in power and the people felt more capable of defending themselves, it expanded downward. Now more than a third of the population lived at ground level; walls and weapons replacing the natural barriers that had once protected them.

Reaching the base of the wall, Rey jumped upwards and air-swam to the top in a second. Several Guardsmen stood on either side of her, firing into the pack of Beowolves below. The wall was keeping the Grimm out for now, but the Imperial Guard trained for melee combat and lacked the firepower to defend the gate for long.

"Rey?" asked a startled voice to the former Guardswoman's left. She ignored the man and focused on the Grimm below thinking of the best course of action. A moment later, her friends arrived at her side. Assessing the situation, they all reached the same conclusion.

"Ready?" asked Lana.

"Go!" shouted Rey, and they leapt off the wall as one, glaives pointed downwards to spear the Grimm beneath them. They landed blades first, turning a dozen Beowolves into pincushions. Ripping their weapons from the creatures' flesh, they aimed outwards at the surrounding enemies and fired in unison, creating more space for themselves.

Rey took but a moment to find a gap in the Grimm that she could exploit. Her mind focused on the battle, every thought coming into alignment to ensure her victory. She took a breath and _moved_.

Springing forward with lightning speed, Rey stabbed her glaive into a Beowolf's neck. She ripped the weapon out and turned to face another Grimm that was charging at her from the side. Using her Semblance, she kicked off the air and flew over the Beowolf, firing her rifle downwards as she passed above it.

As she rose into the air, Rey cast a quick glance at the forests to the north of the city. In the distance, she could see a plume of smoke rising from the trees. Even as she watched, two more explosions erupted from the forest, each big enough to have come from an artillery shell.

 _Summer? I guess she really can handle herself._

Rey fired her rifle twice more before landing, blowing holes in two more Grimm. A Beowolf crashed towards her as she landed, but she stepped into its attack and decapitated it with a two-handed swing of her glaive.

She spun around to find another lupine Grimm slashing at her legs, but she jumped over its attack and shot it in the head, the recoil throwing her backwards. Rey stretched out in midair and planted her feet into the face of a Beowolf, kicking off of it and landing in the middle of three of its pack mates. The trio of monsters pounced on her in unison. Rey smiled as she pulled the trigger of her weapon, the recoil sending her into a sweeping slash that bisected all three Grimm. She stopped herself when she was facing the creature that she had kicked. Then she took aim and shot it in the head.

Rey ejected the spent clip from her weapon and slowly, almost lazily, replaced it with another from her pocket. She chambered a round just as more Grimm decided to try their luck against the red-haired warrior.

She met the first Beowolf with a horizontal sweep, and then fired her weapon backwards, sending herself into another powerful slash that dismembered an attacking Grimm. She fired again, launching her glaive into a vertical spin that she angled to rip apart several more of the creatures. Hearing movement behind her, she spun around and stabbed her weapon into the throat of another Beowolf.

As soon as it crumpled, Rey launched herself into another pack of the monsters, swinging, cutting, and shooting. Even as her speed became blinding, every attack remained perfectly precise, with no wasted movement. Limbs were severed, heads were hacked off, black-furred bodies were blown apart, and none of the Grimm even touched Rey. Firing her last shot into a Beowolf's mouth, she quickly reloaded, only to find that she had killed all of the creatures that surrounded her.

Realizing this, Rey turned and faced the gate. Even as she'd been cutting a bloody swath through the pack of Grimm, her companions had been fighting near the wall, killing any enemy that got close. The Beowolves' numbers had dwindled severely, and it was looking like a total victory for the Imperial Guard.

Then Rey heard chittering behind her. She spun around and barely managed to avoid the swing of a white armored claw. She dove backwards and air-swam as fast as she could away from the sixty-foot long Death Stalker that ambushed her out of nowhere. Its faintly glowing stinger darted out and nearly impaled the fleeing Guardswoman.

Then a woman clad in teal stepped in front of Rey and screamed.

The screech was deafening. Even with the noise focused away from her, Rey winced at its incredible volume. The Death Stalker, taking the full brunt of the sonic attack, recoiled in pain and backed away.

The noise died, and Captain Tina turned to face her wayward subordinate. The two women locked eyes for a moment.

 _Might be the last time we ever fight together. Let's make it count._

Rey gave a nod of gratitude. Then both women turned back towards the Grimm and charged with the rest of their unit close behind them.

The Death Stalker prepared to strike, only to flinch back again as Tina shrieked at it with the full power of her Semblance. The instant she stopped, her squad raised their weapons and opened fire. The Grimm covered its face with its claws, and Rey took the opportunity to leap into the air and swim over it with her Semblance.

Once she was behind the creature, Rey glanced back at her squad. Captain Tina was using Dust to form a windstorm around her weapon, and she was about to lunge out with it.

Rey let herself fall until she was at the height of the Grimm's stinger. She focused on the Dust crystal in her glaive and swung the weapon horizontally. Ice began to form around the tip mid-swing, taking the shape of a six foot long blade at the end of the polearm. At the same time, Tina lashed out with a blade made of air. Ice and wind reached their target at the same time and severed the Death Stalker's tail like a pair of scissors.

The Grimm writhed and chittered in agony. It thrashed at them, but Rey's companions kept it at bay with their glaives. They moved to surround the creature, boxing it in with stabs at any exposed flesh.

Tina and Lana sprinted around the Death Stalker to Rey's side, and the captain spoke quickly.

"Lana, take us up. I'll send Rey back down."

Understanding the plan immediately, Rey clasped arms with Tina. Lana focused on the Dust in her weapon and a tornado began to form beneath her companions' feet. Rey activated her Semblance, letting the wind lift her into the air with the force of a rushing river. She kicked her legs, and, even with Tina's added weight, the wind carried her fifty feet off the ground.

As the two women lost momentum, they released their grip on each other and separated. Rey angled her body downwards and pointed her oversized ice blade at the Death Stalker's back. Tina activated her Dust and summoned an enormous downdraft.

Swimming with the current, Rey shot downwards like a bullet from a gun. She landed point first and impaled the wounded Death Stalker, piercing right through its armor. Her Aura flickered from the impact, but the Grimm got the worst of it. As the creature writhed in pain, Rey pulled the trigger of her weapon, and the ice blade exploded inside of her enemy's body. The Death Stalker shuddered one last time before dissolving into thick black smoke.

Rey covered her nose and waved her hand to clear the smoke. Once she could see again, she looked back towards the city, and her breath caught in her throat.

After her unit led the charge, the rest of the Imperial Guard had joined them to fight the Grimm up close. The battlements atop the wall should have been empty, but instead they were packed with civilians, at least a hundred of them staring at the deserter who still wore the jacket of a Guardswoman.

 _"Those traitors are fighting against the Grimm!" Yeah, I guess that would get people's attention._

Rey began walking towards the wall when a voice stopped her.

"Rey," Tina said in a commanding tone.

The errant Guardswoman turned back to face her Captain.

"If you want to try arresting me, wait a minute. There's something I want to say first. I think I've earned that much." The two women stared at each other for a moment, but then Tina took a step back.

Rey retrieved the megaphone from her pocket and faced the crowd.

 _Huh, it did come in handy._ The possibility occurred to Rey that Summer was the one who told these people that she was fighting the Grimm, but there was no time to ponder it.

Rey lifted the megaphone to her lips and spoke, her words amplified so that the whole crowd could hear.

"You've all seen the wanted posters; you know who I am. You've heard that I'm a deserter, a traitor, and a coward." Rey gestured towards the field where the bodies of dozens of slain Grimm were dissolving. "But I'm still here. I'm still fighting to protect my home. I'm not afraid to risk my life for Mistral.

"But I won't die for something I don't believe in! This war isn't about protecting Mistral; the real threat is right here. The Suppression Act is wrong. Slavery is wrong. And if the Emperor can't see that, then someone needs to show him!"

The crowd gasped at that, but Rey pressed on.

"I'll stand up to him to get back the Mistral I love. If you're done seeing artists arrested, innocent people suffering in chains, and more lives wasted every day, then stand with me! When the whole city is shouting, he'll have to listen!"

Rey lowered the megaphone, and for a moment everything was silent. Then one of the people on the wall began clapping. Soon more joined in until the entire crowd was cheering.

Rey let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. Then she glanced at Tina. "You can't stop this."

The captain sighed. "I'm going to the palace. If anyone tries to break in, the Imperial Guard will stop them."

"I'll keep this peaceful if I can," replied Rey. "But we're saying things that need to be heard."

Tina stared at her former subordinate for a moment. "Good luck." She walked off without another word.

With that, Rey turned back to the crowd of cheering people, ready to lead them in taking back her home.

* * *

 **Author's Note: Rey's story was one of the most fun to write. I enjoyed her character a lot, and I hope that you all found her compelling. Her fight scenes were also some of my favorites. I also thought I made pretty good use of her allegory without shoving it in the reader's face too much. All in all, I'm pretty happy with how her story turned out.**

 **Thank you all for reading.**


	25. Ulysses: Chapter 6

**August 4th**

Ulysses paced back and forth in a small room on the top floor of the town hall. First Company's radioman sat at a desk with his device set up in front of him. It was mid-morning after the Grimm attack. Ulysses had just sent a transmission to his commanding officer, and was now waiting for a response.

His message explained that First Company had suffered heavy losses in a Grimm attack on Renere. Twenty-four men died the previous night including Major Agemus, and another forty-one had been hurt. Of the injured, eight would need a week or more of recovery before they could march, and another six would never be able to fight again. As the captain of the First Platoon, Ulysses was the highest-ranking officer left in the company, so it fell on him to communicate with the higher-ups. He made sure to let them know that more Grimm attacks were likely and that Renere would not survive without the army's protection. He had little idea what kind of a response that would receive.

Finally, after ten minutes of waiting, the response came over the radio and was quickly decrypted. Ulysses snatched up the printout and read it over.

 _To: Captain Ulysses Ithacan, First Company Acting Commander_

 _From: Colonel Dominic Mare, Fourth Regiment Commander_

 _First Company is ordered to march for Grimm's Lament. Remain in contact, as you will be meeting up with other elements of the Twelfth Division along the way. In spite of your losses, we cannot allow more than two days' delay. Use that time to get as many men as you can in fighting shape._

 _Your assessment of the Grimm presence in the area is noted. Exercise caution while you are on the move._

Ulysses clenched his fist, and it took all of his self-control to avoid tearing up the piece of paper. _They didn't even mention the safety of the town!_ He considered sending another message, but decided against it. He would make good on his promise to Autumn no matter what high command said, and his men should be the first to know that.

"We're meeting in the square at 1000 hours," Ulysses informed the radioman, then he left the room to tell the rest of the company. He wanted all of his men present for this, so he asked that duties like manning the radio and watching the walls be temporarily handed off to the town council. The civilians were surprised at the request, but understood that Ulysses needed to speak with his men. Once all of the officers knew, he sat on the steps of the town hall to consider what he would tell the soldiers.

From where he was sitting, Ulysses could see a number of refugees hiding in their makeshift dwellings. Even after the one-eyed Grimm broke down the gate, none of the creatures made it past First Company into the city. Even so, many of the refugees panicked, and a number had fled the city through the western gate, though Ulysses couldn't guess where they meant to go.

Twenty minutes later, the whole of First Company gathered in the square around Ulysses. The captain looked over the soldiers, severely reduced in both number and vigor since the day before. The previous night's battle had been by far the worst fighting they'd seen yet. Even those who had walked away from the battle uninjured were visibly affected after witnessing their comrades cut down by the creatures of Grimm.

 _And now I'll be asking them to fight more Grimm._ Ulysses sighed and stood up to address the company. _My company_ , he reminded himself. Before the major died, only the Stormcallers had truly been his, but now he was responsible for all of them. Ulysses wasn't sure if that would make this easier or harder.

"We lost good men last night, not the least of which was Major Agemus. But their sacrifices were not in vain." He gestured to the other side of the square. "These people are alive right now because we were here to hold back the darkness. That's something that we can all be proud of."

Many of the soldiers nodded their heads at that and stood a bit straighter. A few even smiled.

"But…" Ulysses said slowly. The square fell silent waiting for him to continue. "If we leave now, then there's every reason to believe that these people will be killed by the next pack of Grimm to happen by. This is especially true when you consider that all of the refugees here were displaced by Grimm attacks."

The soldiers, who had been recovering some pride a moment ago, now looked stunned. They stared at their commander wide-eyed, suddenly feeling an enormous weight on their shoulders.

Ulysses crossed his arms. "We've received orders to move out to Grimm's Lament in two days. Knowing that it would mean the deaths of everyone in Renere, I for one don't see how I can follow those orders."

"Ulysses," whispered Captain Ajan, stepping up and placing a hand on his acting commander's shoulder. "You can't be-"

Ulysses held up a hand to stop him. "I need to say this." The two captains held each other's gaze for a moment, but then Ajan backed down.

"Believe me when I say that I've considered the consequences of this course of action. We'll be putting our comrades on the front lines in greater danger by not coming to their aid. More than that, we'll be risking the war, making it easier for Mistral and Mantle to achieve victory. That's not a risk that I take lightly.

"But my duty is to protect the people of Vale, and I can't reconcile that duty with leaving Renere at the mercy of the Grimm. If the choice is to abandon my fellow soldiers or abandon defenseless villagers, then as difficult as it is, my choice has already been made.

"Now each of you have your own choice to make. If none of you are willing to help me, then I'll stay here alone to fight the Grimm. But I don't know how long I'll last on my own. I need you to stand with me if I'm going to protect these people."

"You're asking us to desert," Ajan stated evenly.

"I'm asking you to act against orders," confirmed Ulysses. "But I have every intention of informing high command of what we're doing. I also plan to contact every unit in the area that I can get a hold of. If I can, I'll convince them to do the same thing we are. There are other villages out there that need protection, and First Company can't cover all of them."

The soldiers were silent as they realized the full extent of Ulysses' plan. It was a terrible choice to have to make. They would either risk the outcome of the war, or risk the lives of the people for whom they were fighting.

"I'm in," called a voice from the middle of the crowd. Corporal Wilson stepped forward, his chest wrapped in bandages where an Ursa had clawed him after the gate fell. In spite of the injury, he stood tall as he addressed the company. "The people here need protecting from more than just Mistral and Mantle. If no one else is going to give it to them, then it's on us." His face hardened. "No one else is going to lose their family if I can help it."

Ulysses gave Wilson a sad smile. It took a moment for the rest of the company to realize exactly what he meant. But once they did, more came forward to join the two officers. Pretty soon it was unanimous.

"Alright then," declared Ulysses, feeling a swell of pride in his men. "For now, our goal is to get everyone back in fighting shape as fast as possible. We also need to rebuild the gate that was destroyed and reinforce it as much as possible. I may have new orders once I've contacted some of the other units in the area, but for now, dismissed!"

As the men returned to whatever duties they were capable of at the moment, Ulysses turned and entered the town hall. He had a long list of people to try to get on the radio, but there was one thing he wanted to do first.

The captain entered the room he shared with Ajan and sat down at the desk. He glanced at the letter he had written the day before, but then discarded it. He got a new piece of paper and began to write.

 _My Dearest Penelope,_

 _We have been in Renere for a day and a half now, and so much has happened. I've learned that the cost of this war was even greater than we realized, and I have discovered what I have to do._

 _The men and I are going to stay in Renere even though we have been ordered to leave. I know that I am taking a terrible risk by doing this, but there are families like ours here, and they have no other protection from the Grimm. Dozens of villages have already been destroyed because the army was elsewhere, and I am going to do everything I can to put a stop to this._

 _I don't know what the consequences will be for me, but I will return to you as soon as I can. No matter what it takes, no matter what stands in my way, when the people of Vale are safe, I will come back to you._

 _I was thinking recently about that dance when I first told you that I love you. Even with everything that's happened since then, I still think of that as the happiest moment of my life. Seeing you in that violet dress, smiling at me from across the room, it was the kind of sight that changes a man. That_ did _change one._

 _I know we already settled on names for the baby, but I was thinking that Violet would be a good name for a girl. It would be a reminder of the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. A fitting name for the one I'll love most in all of Remnant._

 _Forever yours,_

 _Ulysses_

Ulysses placed the letter in an envelope and sealed it. He was definitely going to send this one.

* * *

 **Author's Note: When I first had the idea for this fic, I made a plan for all five characters. Ulysses' story was the one that ended up deviating the least from that original plan. I had been planning the fight with the Cyclops Grimm for months before I finally released that chapter. I really enjoyed writing this story, and I hope all of you enjoyed reading it.**

 **Thank you all for reading!**


	26. Zeke: Chapter 6

**August 7th**

Zeke stood next to the grove of trees and stretched out his back. Sleeping on the ground had been uncomfortable, not that he had gotten much sleep. He was too nervous about the confrontation that was coming today.

After Zeke left, the regiment continued preparing for the attack on Grimm's Lament, but hadn't made any move against him personally. That told the captain everything he needed to know. Just as he had suspected, his father was coming to deal with him, and the attack would happen as soon as he was removed as an obstacle.

A glance at the sun told Zeke that it was just before noon. His father would likely be arriving soon.

He looked back at the camp and was surprised to see Major Ovid walking towards him. He stopped twenty feet from Zeke, and the two officers stared at each other for a second.

"The general will be here within the hour," began the major.

"Yeah, I figured," replied Zeke.

"He's bringing a regiment with him. Once we take the fortress we'll dig in there and wait for the Valean reinforcements."

His father was going to attack a fortified enemy, then immediately use the captured fortress to defend against a superior enemy force that he could have retreated from. No one would ever accuse the general of being afraid to take risks.

General Pantheon was known for demanding the impossible of his men, and for making them more afraid of failure than death. He was also known for throwing himself into the same impossible situations he put them in and coming out covered in other people's blood. Zeke had heard that the Valeans called his father the Souleater, both for the vast numbers of men that he had killed in battle, and the way his own soldiers fought as if they had no fear. Zeke wondered if it was also supposed to be a reference to the general's Semblance.

When he didn't respond, Major Ovid continued.

"It's going to be one hell of a battle. We could use your help."

"I am helping you," answered Zeke. "That battle is never going to happen."

"You're really sure about this?" asked the major.

Zeke thought of the broken window within Grimm's Lament.

"I've seen what's going to happen if we win. I'm ending this war, no matter what it takes."

The major reached into his pack and took out a ration pack and a canteen. He tossed them both to the captain. Zeke's stomach growled. He had pocketed some food and water before leaving the camp, but he'd finished all of it last night.

"Thank you," he said, surprised by the offer.

"Eh, I didn't want to see you die with an empty stomach," muttered Ovid. He turned and began walking back to the camp before Zeke could reply.

 _Am I going to die?_ As he scarfed down the food, Zeke considered the coming confrontation. He would try to talk to his father, but he had no illusions about how that was going to go. He had to be ready for a fight.

The question was whether or not he had a chance of winning. His father was a legendary general, the victor of countless battles. Allies and enemies alike feared him. He had also been the one who taught Zeke how to fight.

 _Well, that last part's not entirely true._ Zeke had been taught by several combat instructors besides the general, not the least of which were the Valeans he'd killed in battle.

And he'd been recognized for his skill with the rank of captain. Some people had claimed that it was his father's influence that allowed him to rise through the ranks, but Zeke knew that he had worked to be where he was.

 _I am strong. My father forced me to be. The war forced me to be._

Fear and confidence warred within Zeke as he waited for the general's arrival. He wasn't sure how long it was before he began to notice movement in the camp. Soldiers were arriving, seemingly from the northeast. It quickly became obvious that his father's regiment had arrived.

Zeke rose from where he had been sitting. A lone figure strode towards him from the camp while the rest of the soldiers gathered to watch from a distance.

General Kronos Pantheon was a giant of a man, almost seven feet tall with broad shoulders and arms like tree trunks. Like his son, he had dark, straight hair and clear, blue eyes, but his face was broader and more angular than Zeke's. He wore a navy cape over his blue uniform, the mark of a general. Clipped to his belt was his weapon, a one-handed sword with a curved protrusion near the tip of the blade. It was known as a harpe, and the sharpened projection allowed it to be used as both a sword and a sickle.

On his belt, alongside the harpe, was his other weapon, a set of small bags containing different kinds of Dust. The buttons holding them shut were magnetic, allowing the general to reach their contents quickly while still preventing the Dust from falling out as he moved around. The bags didn't look like they contained very much, but Zeke knew that his father had all he needed.

Kronos stopped twenty yards away from his son, and the two men stared at each other for a few seconds, hands near their weapons.

"I had to hear this for myself," began the general. "What do you think you're doing, Zeke?" His voice was calm, just as it always was when he passed judgement on his subordinates.

"Something that should have been done a long time ago," he answered, putting as much force as he could into his voice. "I'm ending this war, Father."

"This war will end when we are victorious."

"I've seen what victory looks like, and I don't want it!" shouted Zeke, loud enough for the men watching from the camp to hear him. "We're supposed to be soldiers, but our orders are to sweep across this land like bandits, destroying artwork and taking slaves. It goes against everything that I know is right. It's not worth risking our lives for!"

As Zeke finished speaking, he tried to gauge his father's reaction, but the general's face betrayed no emotion. He simply waited for his son to finish before speaking.

"Do you think that I won't kill you just because you are my son?" asked Kronos, his voice still impassive. He drew his harpe from his belt and pointed it at Zeke. "This is treason, and you will be given the same punishment as any other traitor."

"I don't want to fight you, Father," whispered Zeke as he drew his sword.

"You brought this upon yourself."

As Kronos spoke those last words, he dipped his hand into one of the pouches on his belt and removed a pinch of Dust. He then brought the hand to his lips, placed the Dust in his mouth, and swallowed.

 _He's using it right away. I guess he wants to end this quickly._

The change was immediate. The general's skin took on a dark gray color and a rough, craggy texture. He seemed to grow slightly, his clothing becoming tight on his body. His muscles made a low cracking sound when he moved.

Kronos launched himself into a run, charging towards Zeke like an angry Boarbatusk. His speed was incredible for having a body made of stone. When he had covered half the distance, he threw himself into the air and raised his harpe.

As Zeke watched his father hurtle towards him like a meteor, doubt overcame him for a moment. _Can I win this?_ Then a string of images flashed before his eyes.

* * *

 _Zeke was eight years old the first time he sparred with his father. He had already been practicing footwork and blade drills for more than a year, but this was the first time he fought with a real opponent._

 _They faced off in the backyard of the family's manor in Mistral. Each carried a blunted wooden sword, with Zeke's being half the length of his father's._

 _Kronos came at his son right away with a couple of quick feints. Zeke batted these away without putting himself too far out of position. Kronos followed up with a huge downward chop. Zeke raised his sword to block the attack, only to be knocked over by the force of the blow._

 _"You should have been able to block that," grunted Kronos._

 _"You were too strong for me," protested Zeke._

 _"If you had done the block properly, you would have had enough leverage to stop me," his father scolded. "Now back on your feet."_

 _Kronos knocked his son over a hundred more times before he decided that they were done for the day. Zeke went inside covered in bruises and utterly humiliated._

 _The general was away from home more often than not, especially after the war started. Zeke had half a dozen combat tutors over the next ten years, working him for hours each day. But every time Kronos came home, they would spar, and every time Zeke would come a bit closer to winning._

 _The last time they had sparred was five years ago, just before Zeke joined the military._

* * *

Kronos crashed into the ground and brought his harpe down in a crushing blow of unbelievable strength. It would be impossible to stop the cut, so Zeke didn't try. He raised his sword at an angle with the guard above the tip, and his father's strike slid along the blade and missed its target completely.

Zeke immediately launched a riposte, swinging his blade around in a circle to strike his father's shoulder. The blow barely chipped at the general's stone skin, but it staggered him and forced him half a step back.

 _All my life I've lived in your shadow._

Kronos swiped his blade back up at Zeke's face, but the captain spun away from the cut and leveled a slash of his own at his father's eyes, forcing him further back.

 _Whenever people thought of me, it was always in the context of you._

Zeke chased after his father, attacking with quick, controlled blows that forced the general into a defensive stance.

 _Even you saw me as little more than an extension of yourself._

Kronos raised his stony arm to catch the next attack and swung his harpe in a horizontal slash. But Zeke pulled his blow and ducked beneath the counterattack.

 _Maybe that's why you never realized…_

Zeke sprang back up and stabbed his sword towards his father's chest. He focused on the Dust crystal set into the pommel, and the blade became charged with electricity.

 _…how strong I am!_

The thrust found its mark and lightning surged through Kronos' body. The general cried out in pain, his stone body doing nothing to protect him from the electricity. He staggered away from Zeke, and his skin returned to its ordinary complexion.

That was the limitation of his Semblance. A small amount of Dust could empower the general for several minutes, but only if his Aura remained undamaged. He'd return to normal as soon as his opponent got a solid blow in.

Kronos glared up at his son, anger finally showing on his face.

"You dare attack me, your superior? Your father? This isn't a fight, it's an execution!"

* * *

 _On the third day of training, Zeke and the other officer cadets were given free access to the sparring hall. Everyone immediately wanted to challenge Zeke, or more specifically the son of General Pantheon._

 _None of them had the same level of training that Zeke did. He broke their Auras one by one, his superior technique letting him win even when the others were bigger, stronger, or had more powerful Semblances._

 _But after beating the fifth opponent, he was at his limit. His movements were becoming increasingly sluggish, and his Aura was almost completely drained. He was visibly panting, but a sixth cadet stepped into the ring, smirking at his exhaustion. Zeke wanted to refuse the match, but he imagined what his father would say if he gave up._

 _The fight didn't last long. Zeke was far too tired to defend properly. A single blow from the other boy finished off his Aura and sent him sprawling on the ground._

 _"Aw, I thought the general's son could do better than that," his opponent sneered._

 _"Oh come on, Kenji," called a cadet who had been watching the fight. "He just beat five of you guys in a row. If you gave him half an hour to rest I bet he could kick your ass too!"_

 _"Shut it, Tai," snapped Kenji. "Everyone saw, I beat him fair and square."_

 _Tai scoffed and went to help Zeke to his feet._

 _The next day Zeke beat Kenji without taking a single blow. Still, the other officer cadets never stopped ganging up on him like that. By the end of training, Zeke could defeat twelve of them in a row without resting._

* * *

"You want to execute me?" demanded Zeke. "You have to beat me first."

Kronos grabbed some Dust from another one of the bags on his belt and ate it before Zeke could react. Lightning arced from the general's body. It crackled around his limbs and weapon, surging in power as he moved. Kronos lowered himself into a fighting crouch. Then, with a sound like a thunderclap, he disappeared.

Acting without conscious thought, Zeke swung his sword in a rising parry. His blade caught the general's an instant before the strike would have reached his throat. The force of the colliding weapons unleashed a shockwave that flattened the grass for twenty yards around the combatants. Father and son locked eyes for a moment.

Kronos recovered quickly and launched into a flurry of vicious slashes. Empowered by lightning, the general moved faster than the eye could follow, but Zeke had trained to block bullets with his sword, and he was able to parry every strike. Even as the attacks started coming faster and faster, Zeke drew on his Aura and was able to keep up.

Then, in a flash of electricity, Kronos disappeared again. Zeke immediately swept his sword behind himself, turning aside his father's backstab. He spun around as quickly as he could, but Kronos continued moving to circle him, raining down cuts from every direction.

Zeke's mind went blank as instinct and training took over. He spun in place to follow his father, his sword moving in tightly controlled circles to deflect attacks that were too quick to see. Blades clashed and electricity arced in all directions. To the soldiers watching from afar it looked like the captain was dancing with a thunderstorm.

After a minute of this, Kronos broke off and dashed a few feet away from Zeke. He turned and pointed his harpe at his son, and the electricity surrounding his body formed into a bolt of lightning that flew from the blade.

Focusing on the Dust crystal in his sword, Zeke raised the weapon and caught the bolt of lightning on his sword, absorbing the electricity harmlessly. At the same time, he charged forward, closing the distance while his father recovered from launching the powerful attack.

Kronos realized what was happening an instant too late. Zeke slashed his blade across his father's chest, knocking him away from Zeke and causing his Aura to flash. A second later the lightning surrounding the general died down.

As Kronos recovered from the blow and backed off, his face twisted with rage.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" he shouted. "You think you have a chance of winning? I've killed men who would make you look like an insect!"

* * *

 _Zeke sprinted through the moonlit forest, coming to a stop behind a fallen tree. He could hear the sound of bullets whizzing through the air all around him. He peered past his cover into the darkness, looking for muzzle flashes to mark the enemy's position._

 _Then he spotted the glint of moonlight on steel above him. Two of the Vacuan officers had leapt over his position, using Wind Dust to lift themselves. They were easy to miss in the darkness, but once Zeke knew where to look he saw them clearly enough. He watched as they landed on a hill behind him, and he immediately sprinted towards them, his Semblance making him invisible to the enemy soldiers._

 _Zeke caught up to the Vacuans as they were descending on one of his fire teams. He saw the three men in the team, Cho, Hori, and Petrakis, trying to bring their guns to bear. The three soldiers were from different parts of Mistral, but all three had heard of General Pantheon, and all three had decided that Zeke was only their lieutenant because of his father's influence._

 _The Vacuan in the lead raised his falchion to strike down Hori. Zeke appeared from the darkness just in time to block the attack. He knocked the enemy's weapon away and smashed him in the face with his pommel. The officer's Aura flashed, saving him from a broken nose._

 _Zeke raised his sword and fired a bolt of lightning at the other attacker, knocking him to the ground. He then brought his blade back to parry an attack from the first Vacuan. He quickly riposted with a jab to the man's face. Zeke continued to batter down the enemy officer before finally breaking his Aura and stabbing him through the chest._

 _When he turned back to the other Vacuan, Cho, Hori, and Petrakis were pointing guns in the prone man's face. The officer graciously surrendered._

 _When they returned from the battle having captured one Vacuan officer and killed another, Zeke was promoted to captain. None of his men questioned if he deserved the rank this time._

* * *

"You're still underestimating me?" demanded Zeke. "You were the one who drilled it into me that I had to be strong. But you never imagined that I would surpass you, did you?"

Kronos snarled. Then he dipped a hand towards the pouches on his belt. Zeke sprinted towards his father, sword raised. _Crap, I should have stayed closer to him._ The general grabbed a pinch of Dust and swallowed it a second before his son reached him.

An explosion threw Zeke backwards off his feet. As he sprang back up, he saw that his father's body was wreathed in fire. The flames danced around his arms and head before growing into a towering inferno with the general at the center. Only his precise control of his Aura kept his clothing from being incinerated. Even twenty feet away the heat was sweltering.

"I'll turn you to ash," growled Kronos.

The general thrust his harpe at Zeke, and a ball of fire launched from it. The captain dived out of the way, but a second fireball was close behind the first. He threw himself away from the blast, avoiding it by mere inches, but the heat still battered at his Aura.

Recovering from the dodge, Zeke cast a glance at his father to find the general barreling towards him like a fiery comet. The heat increased with his approach until it felt like Zeke was standing in an oven. Kronos swung his blazing harpe in a huge overhead slash. Zeke parried the blade easily, but the fire still flowed around his sword to strike him. He cried out in pain as his Aura struggled to protect him from the flames.

Zeke backed away from his father, but the general pursued with another slash and another rush of fire. Knowing that he couldn't block the flames, Zeke was forced to keep retreating. At ten feet away, he raised his sword and shot a bolt of lightning at his father. Kronos side-stepped the bolt, and, with a flick of his wrist, he sent out a wave of fire that Zeke had to scramble to avoid.

 _I can't touch him, and he's burning through my Aura with every second._ Zeke knew that he couldn't win just on skill, he needed a plan. He began to look for a way to break the engagement and give himself time to think.

 _My Semblance would be able to help me hide if we weren't in an open field. There's too much light and not enough cover!_ That was when Zeke remembered the one bit of cover he _did_ have, and inspiration struck.

Zeke dodged around another blast of fire, and then sprinted for the grove of trees behind him. As soon as he was in the shade, he activated his Semblance and surrounded himself in shadow.

Kronos scoffed at the vain attempt to hide. He raised both of his arms and a huge ball of flame coalesced between them. Most of the fire that surrounded him was drained off to fuel this attack. The general thrust his hands forward and launched the blast at his son's hiding spot.

 _That's my dad. Give him a bigger target, and he'll just use a bigger attack._

Zeke broke into a sprint directly towards the wave of fire. As he was about to reach it, he launched himself into the air and soared over the blast, landing on the other side and continuing his dash towards his father.

He heard a rush of air when the fire hit the grove of trees, erupting into a conflagration as it suddenly found fuel. As Zeke charged at his father, his Semblance turned him into a speck of darkness against a blinding field of light.

Drained of fire from his last attack and unable to see, Kronos couldn't defend himself as Zeke stepped in with a vicious upward slash. He staggered backwards as his Aura took the blow, but Zeke didn't let up. As he brought his sword down for another cut, he charged it with electricity. The blade hit Kronos' shoulder, and the general's body seized from the surge of current.

Zeke brought his sword back, and then stepped forward with a two-handed slash that shattered his father's Aura and split open his stomach. The general dropped his weapon and collapsed to the ground, beaten.

 _This is where I step out of your shadow._

Zeke straightened out of his fighting stance and looked over the stunned faces of the spectators. Then he walked forward until he was close enough to be heard.

"You know what I believe!" he shouted. "And now you know that I'm willing to fight for it! I'll fight for what's right, no matter who's standing in my way! I'm willing to die to end the Suppression Act." He paused for a moment, sweeping his eyes over his audience, letting each soldier think he was looking at them. "Would any of you die to preserve it?"

There was a moment of silence that stretched on for several seconds. Not a soul moved.

"No one?" demanded Zeke. "Then I guess this war's over. Somebody check on the general. We're going home."

* * *

 **Author's Note: I've had the basic idea for Zeke's story since volume 2. That was pretty much why I wrote this fic, I was disappointed by what the World of Remnant told us about the Great War.**

 **The funny thing about that is that in spite of how long I'd been considering this story, a lot of the best parts of it didn't come to me until I started writing them. Zeke's story went through a lot of evolution, and I know that I made a number of mistakes with it. Even so, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.**

 **And with that, we've reached the end of the main storyline. There will be two more chapters to wrap things up. Thank you all for reading.**


	27. Finale: The Four Kings

It began when a company of Valean soldiers ignored orders to deploy to the front lines of Sanus. They instead sent word to their entire command structure that they intended to remain in the village of Renere and defend it from Grimm attacks. Over the next few days, several other Valean units sent word that they would be following suit, finding other villages that were in need of protection.

At the same time, Vacuan forces began to desert the front lines in large numbers. Initially, these deserters seemed aimless, but once they learned of the Valean forces who were protecting villages from Grimm, many chose to do the same.

These desertions deeply worried the Valean and Vacuan strategists, but before Mistral or Mantle even became aware of the situation, something even more shocking happened outside the Valean fortress of Grimm's Lament. A massive Mistralian army retreated back to friendly territory after their general was defeated in a duel with his own son. Other Mistralian forces in the area were left uncertain of what to do and chose to avoid combat until their high command could be made aware of the situation.

However, around the same time that Mistral's government learned of the desertions, riots broke out within the city, led by a member of the Imperial Guard. Civilians demanding an end to both the war and the Suppression Act eventually broke into the the Imperial Palace. The Emperor of Mistral, one of the biggest war hawks on Remnant, was now forced to recall his entire army to friendly territory.

Matelian forces in Sanus were left confused by their ally's sudden decision to abandon the fight. Upon contacting their high command for guidance, they learned that their expected reinforcements would not be arriving, and were ordered to retreat from battle.  
Valean and Vacuan strategists saw that their enemies were retreating, but with so much of their own force having deserted, they had little ability to capitalize on this. They simply continued to defend their territory, waiting for the enemy to return.  
By the middle of August, the guns had fallen silent, and the leaders of all four kingdoms were forced to accept that the war was over. Lines of communication were opened, and the four kings agreed to meet to discuss the terms of peace.

* * *

 **September 1**

The four kings entered the small, circular room at the same time, each flanked by two guards. The monarchs eyed each other warily, watchful for signs of a threat. Meeting on Vytal was a compromise that satisfied no one, nor had they really wanted to meet at all. And none of them were used to having their bodyguards act more like wardens than protectors.

Charles of Vale, the Warrior King, stood tall and proud despite his circumstances, though his left hand twitched towards his belt frequently, clearly disturbed to be without his scepter. His forest green cape hung heavily around his shoulders. The men with him had each led large numbers of soldiers in deserting the front lines, yet he bore them no ill will. He truly wanted peace, though he feared what negotiating under these circumstances might mean for his people.

Ivan of Mantle, the Snow King, was large and fit despite his years, with a rough face that looked equally likely to break into laughter or outrage at any moment. He dressed in armor and furs, the only way he would be comfortable. He blatantly ignored his guards, pretending they weren't there. They were the same ones who had been with his daughter when she informed him she was going to end the war.

Victoria, queen of Vacuo, was the only woman and the only Faunus among the four. She dressed more casually than the other three, wearing browns and oranges that seemed to complement her deer-like horns. The youngest and least regal of the four monarchs, she had the most in common with the insubordinate soldiers of her nation. She knew both of her guards personally, though they wouldn't have been her first choice for this event.

Zhou, Emperor of Mistral, was the worst at hiding his anxiety. He tried to stand tall and strong, but came across as rigid and uncomfortable. He refused to look at his protectors, both of whom had pointed weapons at him at least once in the past month. His teal robes and turquoise jewelry made him look positively garish compared to the other three. The formality of his clothing made his unease all the more noticeable.

The guards were each armed with a rifle, a sword, and a single Dust crystal. Unlike their kings, the guards of different nations appeared to bear no suspicion at all towards one another. In fact, they spent more time watching their unarmed charges than each other. This trust would have been inexplicable in any other peace negotiation, the sort that come from the top.

The four kings took their seats around the circular table in the center of the room, none making eye contact. Their eyes instead wandered onto the maps sitting on the table. In addition to a world map, there were numerous charts showing the sites of conflict in greater detail. Many areas were highlighted more than once, with settlements and borders drawn both before and after the fighting had begun.

Silence hung heavy in the air, each king waiting for someone else to begin. Finally, after having considered his words carefully, King Charles spoke.

"In all of my experience and all of my readings, I have never been aware of any situation like this. Wars have started and ended for all sorts of reasons, but talks of peace always included some possibility of further violence, however one-sided it might be. But my army refuses to fight, and so do all of yours. I can make no threats against any of your territories, and you can make no threats against mine."

"This is less of a negotiation and more of a four-way unconditional surrender," commented Victoria. "When you look at it that way it just sounds stupid."

"What is your point?" demanded Zhou, his voice dripping with irritation.

"My point is that our demands have little weight to them," Charles explained. "I can ask whatever I want of you, but even if I extract some concessions, my military will not hold you to them. I could impose trade sanctions, but even those may prove unenforceable."

"You're saying these talks are pointless?" asked Ivan. All eight guards bristled at his question.

"That depends on whether or not you are all here in good faith," the Warrior King answered. "I want peaceful and prosperous relations between the four kingdoms. I want all of our people to be safe from the Grimm and from each other. I truly believe that on some level all of you want the same thing. So speak. Tell me what you and your people desire, and I will sincerely work to find an agreement that can benefit us all."

After a moment, Zhou spoke, his voice lacking any of the acid it had had earlier.

"I suppose I'll go first." To everyone's surprise, he turned to face Ivan. "The Suppression Act must be repealed, and all those imprisoned in its name must be released."

The King of Mantle burst into laughter. The other three monarchs stared at him in confusion. Ivan pounded his fist against the table, causing the guards to jump and clutch their weapons tighter.

After several seconds, he regained his composure and met the Emperor's eyes.

"Three weeks ago, my daughter came into my throne room, her newborn son in her arms, and informed me of two things. First, she told me that Mantle's involvement in the war was over. Second, she told me that the Suppression Act was to be annulled, and art was to return to my kingdom." He sat back in his chair, a strange mix of bitterness and pride on his face. "She named my grandson Viridian, after the leaves of the trees in my castle's garden. She said they brought her joy after my order took all other happiness from her."

The room was silent for a long time. Then Charles spoke.

"It seems I was wrong before." His voice was neutral, but the faintest hint of a smile touched his face. "The terms of this peace have already been decided. The four of us are simply here to learn what they are."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Victoria asked. "Who decided them?"

"Our children," answered the Warrior King. "The terms of peace will be whatever they are willing to enforce."

"Our children?" asked Zhou. "Am I the only one here whose sons and daughters are well-behaved?"

"I don't think he means our literal children," explained the Faunus Queen, understanding in her eyes. "But every one of the desertions and rebellions that brought us here today was led by someone under the age of thirty."

Charles nodded.

"We are here discussing peace right now because our children's generation refused to fight their parents' war. The youths of four nations have united to create the most powerful army Remnant has ever seen. We will meet their demands, or they will destroy us."

The four kings glanced around the room at their guards. The eight men and women stood firm and stoic against their monarchs' gazes. Half of them were unmarried, and only two had children. Some were still getting used to owning their own homes, living away from their parents, and being treated as adults. But though they came from different lands, their youth wasn't the only thing that they had in common. Each of them had marked his or her uniform with some non-standard trinket or adornment, a symbol of individuality. Each had been inspired by the words and actions of Antigone, Zeke, Ulysses, Rey, and Erebus.

The mood in the room shifted. The kings, who until this moment had still considered themselves to be enemies, now realized where the lines were truly drawn.

After a long time, Victoria spoke.

"There is one thing that I know with certainty my people demand. I suspect that many of your people share their desire, especially the young men and women who ended this war. They would have an end to slavery in all its forms."

"You can't be serious!" cried Zhou as Ivan gave a humorless chuckle.

"You should know that I am!" retorted the Faunus, rising from her chair. "This has been a long time coming, even if you haven't seen it from your palace. It was the one thing I made sure all of my citizens knew about your kingdoms. In Mistral and Mantle, they buy and sell people. Humans are treated like animals there, and Faunus are treated even worse. My people cry out for an end to this abominable practice, and, whether you know it or not, yours do too."

Zhou laughed at that. He turned in his chair to face his bodyguards.

"Tell me, do the two of you cry out as she says?"

"Yes," the guards answered in almost perfect unison.

Zhou sputtered for a moment, then turned back to face the others, quivering with rage. Victoria sat back down with a satisfied smile.

"I'm not sure if you're all aware of this," Ivan began. "A few years back, we started buying large numbers of slaves for the war effort. We told them that those who showed valor in battle would earn their freedom. Many of Mantle's greatest heroes were once in chains."

Charles nodded. There was not a lot that he liked about the King of Mantle, but he admired the man's respect for his nation's champions. He suspected that Ivan knew the names of more fallen soldiers than the other three kings put together.

"I had my people do some research before the program was in full swing," continued the Snow King. "My advisors were concerned that it would cause significant damage to my kingdom's economy to remove so many laborers. However, it was determined that our recent technological advancements would more than make up for the loss of manpower. My people are ready to abolish slavery, and we will continue to prosper afterwards."

All eyes fell on the Emperor of Mistral. He had calmed himself while Ivan was speaking. He now wore the serious expression he used when making formal decrees.

"I will launch an inquiry. If my people desire an end to slavery as you say they do, then it shall be done."

The other kings smiled. The guards worked to contain their excitement, with varying success.

"Your mention of technology brings up another point," said Charles. "All four kingdoms have made significant advancements these past ten years, most of them dedicated to killing. I think we need to begin discussing disarmament."

"Is that a joke?" cried Ivan angrily. "Or have Vale's natural defenses made you soft? My people do not have the luxury of such complacency! We have strived every day for the last century to create weapons to keep our borders safe, and you talk of disarmament? How then do you suggest that we defend ourselves against the creatures of Grimm?"

"I was getting to that," replied Charles calmly. "All four kingdoms have made use of soldiers with the ability to use their Aura as a weapon. I suggest that each kingdom have an institution devoted solely to the training of warriors who will wield their Aura against the creatures of Grimm: huntsman academies."

"I'm not saying I don't think that's a good idea," replied Victoria. "But it doesn't really sound like disarmament to me."

Charles nodded in agreement.

"An important factor in these academies would be their separation from the military. The students would have no obligation to obey any officer of any kingdom. All four schools would accept any applicant who showed sufficient talent, and graduates would defend whichever kingdom or village their personal loyalties dictated."

"You would be trusting the teachers not to pressure or indoctrinate the students," Zhou pointed out. "That would require men with a very particular set of ideals."

"Yes, it would," agreed the Warrior King. "I already have four such men in mind to lead the schools."

The other three kings rose and began shouting all at once.

"Now I see what you have in mind!" yelled Zhou.

"You're insane if you think you can control all of the world's warriors!" roared Ivan.

"You think we'll let you decide who's teaching our children?" hissed Victoria.

"I understand your misgivings, but please listen to me," Charles shouted over them. As the other three quieted down, he continued. "You, your advisors, and your citizens will meet these men, and only if they are found worthy will they be placed in charge of the huntsmen academies."

The others took their seats again, but still eyed the king of Vale warily.

"I will meet with these men," agreed the Emperor. "But if I detect any hint of deception the plan is forfeit."

"It's a little hard to trust that you're not looking to control these huntsmen," added Victoria. "Especially when you gave them that name without us." Even Zhou chuckled at that.

"If you don't want to call them huntsmen, we can talk about that later," conceded Charles with a laugh. "But I hope you can all see the benefits of having such people. Unlike soldiers, from whom we demand loyalty, we would expect only compassion from these warriors."

"Compassion," repeated Ivan. "I can scarcely remember the last time I even heard that word spoken. This war has changed Remnant in more ways than I realized. It's changed _me_ more than I realized." He was silent for a moment, and then met Charles' gaze. "I agree that these huntsmen will make us all safer. And I trust that the men you nominate will be suited to teach them." The two kings smiled at each other.

Zhou sighed loudly.

"I have much to think on. This negotiation has been more exhausting than I could have imagined. I suggest that we adjourn until tomorrow." The other three nodded in agreement.

"We all have much to discuss with our advisors," Charles said. "And there is still so much to be done. But don't underestimate what we've accomplished here today. All of my doubt is gone, and I am certain that we can find a lasting peace."

The four kings stood and departed through separate doors. As soon as they were out of the room, the eight guards turned to face each other, expressions of shock and elation on all of their faces.

The two men from Mantle pumped their fists in celebration.

"I can't believe it," mouthed a guard from Vacuo silently while her partner danced in place.

A man from Vale ran towards a woman from Mistral and quickly kissed her on the lips. She stared at him for a second then whispered something in his ear. After that, the eight guards left quickly to catch up with their sovereigns.

* * *

It was nearly midnight when Antigone entered her room, having finally put Viridian to bed. She wanted to be on Vytal with her father and her husband, but her son wasn't old enough to make the journey, and she wasn't willing to leave him. Besides, she trusted that Haemon would ensure things turned out for the best.

Antigone walked to the bedside table where she had left the book of poetry and was surprised to find it gone. In its place sat a neatly folded piece of paper. She opened it to find a note written in a crisp, elegant handwriting that she did not recognize. She read the letter, uncertain of what to expect.

 _Princess Antigone,_

 _Words can scarcely describe my gratitude and my joy. To say that I was right to trust you would be an understatement. You have gone beyond anything I could have believed, and warmed a heart that was becoming cold to the world._

 _Some believe that only those with great strength can make a difference, but you are proof that a smaller and more honest soul can be a hero. I was beginning to doubt, but you have rekindled my hope, and I promise I will never forget again._

 _Your actions have brought change, and your courage has inspired a kingdom. The war that you have helped to end threatened to destroy Remnant, and the peace you have helped to forge may stand the test of time. If more people follow your example, I believe humanity will continue to stand against the darkness._

 _I am sorry that I had to retrieve my book. I understand how rude it is to take back a gift, but it belonged to my sister, and it was the only copy that I could save from the burnings. If I can have another made, I promise I will bring it to you._

 _Know that you and yours will always be in my thoughts. I can only hope that one day I am able to honor my debt to you._

 _Forever grateful,_

In place of a signature was a drawing of a snowflake that seemed to shine as if it were made from real ice.

Antigone smiled as she set down the note. It was alright that the book was gone. She had already memorized her favorite poems from it. She got into her bed, and settled into the most restful sleep she had known in a long time. Her dreams were vivid and colorful, just like when she was a child.

* * *

Over the next few weeks, as the four kings discussed the terms of their treaty, people on Vytal and all around the world celebrated. Humans and Faunus of all four kingdoms met peacefully for the first time in a decade. They had become tired of the grudges and anger that came with war, and the advocates of peace had exposed the conflict for the exercise in vanity it was.

The settlers of eastern Sanus met and found ways to live together. Citizens of Mantle ate food from Vacuo, prepared by people who wanted to share it with them. Citizens of Vale heard the music of Mistral for the first time. A man from Mantle fell in love with a woman from Vale. Faunus around the world were released from chains and were able to choose where they would go and what they would do next. The creatures of Grimm, used to gorging on hate these past ten years, found themselves starved. Fireworks made from decommissioned weapons lit the skies of Remnant from one corner to the other. And everywhere there were people creating art.

Far to the west, away from all the celebration, a figure sat alone in darkness, pondering.

"After all of that, with thousands dead and irreplaceable works of art destroyed, they have found peace. Life has triumphed once more.

"I will not fail again. Humanity only survived because of the Four Maidens, so next time I will seize their power for myself and use it to grind all hope to ash. Be it a day or a century from now, I _will_ have my victory."

* * *

 **Author's Note: I had been planning this fic for a long time before I finally started writing it. But after I watched the last episode of volume 4, I spent the next four hours writing this chapter. I had to change it a fair bit after I finished everything that came before it, but nevertheless this chapter was the first piece of fanfic I wrote for RWBY.**

 **With that in mind, I hope you all enjoyed my story. The epilogue will be coming out this week. Thanks for reading!  
**


	28. Epilogue: The Vytal Festival

**September 1**

Antigone sat on a stone bench surrounded by foliage. Even with art restored to her kingdom, she found she still appreciated the simple pleasure of sitting in a garden, and this was one of the most beautiful she'd ever seen. Despite its proximity to Solitas, Vytal was much warmer than Mantle and supported a larger variety of plant life. It was the wrong season for flowers, but some of the trees bore brightly colored fruits and berries. The sun shone brightly through the leaves.

Not twenty yards from where Antigone sat was the building where, a year prior, her father had met with the other three kings to negotiate peace. It was unbelievable how much had changed in that time.

She glanced down at Viridian, sleeping peacefully on her lap. He would never be the king of Mantle; Mantle would never have another king, but that was fine with Antigone. He would be free to choose his own path, rather than having it decided for him by circumstance. He could be an artist, a scholar, a Huntsman, or whatever else he desired. And if it really was his destiny to lead his kingdom, then he might be elected Prime Minister, like his mother before him.

Antigone hadn't really wanted to run for the position, not with an infant son to care for, but her kingdom's needs came before her own. As the princess of Mantle, she had the education and the connections necessary to lead. Moreover, many in her father's government had insisted that she was the only person in the kingdom with enough support to not only win the election, but to truly unite the people of Mantle afterwards. If the election results were anything to go by, the citizens thought so too.

Haemon pushed himself off of the tree he'd been leaning against, watching over his family with a smile on his face. He turned his head towards the main pathway into the garden.

"They're here," he said, stepping closer to his wife and son.

Antigone carefully shifted Viridian to the bench beside her and stood up as four more people entered the garden. The first was a tall, dark-haired man around Antigone's age wearing the green uniform of a Valean colonel. He held a baby girl in his arms, and he wore the same loving smile that Haemon did whenever he held Viridian.

Beside him was a lovely young woman with chocolate-brown hair and a big smile. She wore a blue summer dress with a floral print, and she walked close to the man in green.

A few steps behind the couple were two slightly younger people. One was a woman with long scarlet hair wearing the teal uniform of the Mistral City Guard, formerly the Imperial Guard. Her badge marked her as a captain.

Last was a young man with dark hair wearing a simple collared shirt and slacks. A longsword was strapped to his belt. That told Antigone as much about him as the others' uniforms. Soldiers weren't supposed to carry weapons during the Vytal Festival, but Huntsmen were expected to do so.

The four of them stopped in the middle of the garden, forming a loose circle. The Valean soldier was the first to speak, inclining his head as he did so.

"Prime Minister Thebos."

Before he could continue, Antigone laughed and shook her head.

"Not so formal, please. I'm honored to finally meet all of you." She quickly checked on Viridian before walking up to each of the newcomers in turn.

"Rey," she greeted, shaking hands with the red-haired woman. "They call you the founder of the City Guard."

"I guess," answered Rey. "I mean, not literally. I sort of destroyed the Imperial Guard if that counts."

Antigone chuckled. It was strange. They were all deserters and traitors, yet their kingdoms hailed them as heroes, and half had received promotions for their actions.

"Zeke," said Antigone, moving on to the man with the sword. "Youngest professor at any of the Huntsmen Academies, you should be proud."

"You know, I am," replied Zeke with a smile. "I never thought I'd cut it as a teacher, but I was done being a soldier, and when Haven made me the offer it just felt right somehow."

Antigone moved on to the Valean soldier. He held his daughter against his chest with one hand while he shook Antigone's with the other.

"Colonel Ulysses Ithacan, Defender of the East." He had greeted her so formally, so she teased him by doing the same.

He chuckled as he replied. "Yes well, I guess I did a good enough job when I was acting against orders that they figured they might as well put me in charge for real." Antigone knew the story. Acting entirely outside of the official Valean command structure, he had organized the defense of twenty villages in eastern Sanus for close to a month.

Ulysses glanced down at the baby in his arms, who was looking around the garden curiously. "And this is my daughter, Violet."

"Hi there," cooed Antigone to the baby girl, who giggled and waved in reply.

Finally, Antigone turned to the woman in the blue dress.

"I'm afraid I don't know you."

"Penelope Ithacan," greeted the woman cheerfully, shaking Antigone's hand. "Ulysses' better half."

"She's not wrong," agreed the colonel. Both women laughed appreciatively at that.

Antigone stepped back to stand beside her husband.

"All of you can call me Antigone. This is my husband, Haemon, and my son, Viridian." More greetings were exchanged before the six of them took their seats. There were three benches arranged in a wide half-circle. Antigone and her family took one, Ulysses and his took another, and Rey and Zeke sat together on the third.

"Are the Vacuans coming?" asked Ulysses.

"I'm not sure," answered Antigone.

Rumor had it that the Vacuan desertions had started with a platoon called the Dust Devils, but if this was true then they had shown little interest in confirming everyone's suspicions. Antigone had heard accounts from several other units who all gave credit to the Dust Devils for inspiring them. There were even stories of Mistralians who said that the Dust Devils protected them from Grimm attacks. But a year later, the Dust Devils had yet to make any sort of public appearance.

A few weeks before the anniversary of the war's end, Antigone announced that she wanted to meet the architects of the peace during the celebration on Vytal. The Vacuan government promised to deliver her invitation to the Dust Devils, but she hadn't heard anything since then.

"That might be one of them now," said Haemon abruptly.

The others turned to see a man in a tan uniform approaching them. He had dark skin and sandy colored hair, every bit the classic image of a Vacuan except for the melancholy look on his face.

He stopped just outside of the circle, not returning any of the smiles that were directed his way. He paused a moment before speaking.

"I'm Sergeant Roland Darcy of the Dust Devils." Antigone started to gesture for him to sit with them, but he wasn't done speaking. "And I'm not the one who should be here right now."

Everyone stared at the Vacuan, uncertain of what he meant. He took a breath before continuing.

"The one who convinced us, the Dust Devils that is, to desert was a soldier named Erebus. He was… well, we didn't think that much of him. He was a bit of a loner, didn't talk much. But he was _right_. None of us realized that we were wasting more lives than we saved until he shouted it in our faces.

"He convinced us to go help a Mistralian village that was being attacked by Grimm, the same village we'd attacked the previous night. A lot of people were dead by the time we got there, but we tried to save anyone who was still holding out against the monsters." Darcy sighed. "Erebus passed out in the middle of the battle. We think he had a concussion from an earlier fight. A Nevermore tore him apart before anyone could help him."

Antigone stared at the man in shock. Somehow this was the one possibility that she'd never considered in her own quest for peace. She always imagined it as success or failure, life or death. The thought of convincing her allies to follow her and ending her kingdom's involvement in the war only to be killed shortly after just felt so unfair.

She glanced around the circle to see the others' reactions. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Haemon's reaction was subdued. As a general, he was accustomed to hearing of soldiers being killed in battle. He simply bowed his head respectfully. But Antigone did notice that he clutched Viridian a bit more tightly.

Ulysses' reaction was similarly restrained. He had passed Violet to his wife when they sat down, but he now put his arm around his family. Penelope had her mouth open in surprise and was holding Violet tight against her chest.

On the other bench, Zeke had his teeth clenched and was looking at the ground. Rey was wincing in sympathy for Darcy. Antigone suspected that thoughts similar to her own were running through their heads, and they found it supremely unfair for Erebus to die before he saw the peace he'd worked to achieve.

"Come on," Rey said after a moment. "Sit with us."

Darcy shook his head. "Erebus is the one who should be here with you. I just came to let you know what happened."

"Erebus can't be here with us," said Ulysses firmly. "But you can. Honor his sacrifice by enjoying the peace that it brought."

"He's right," agreed Zeke. "We all made sacrifices to see the war through, some bigger than others. Now we have to move on and make sure that they were worth it."

"And don't forget your part in this," Rey added. "Erebus may have been the first to speak up, but it wouldn't have meant much if you and your men hadn't decided to listen. No one could have ended the war alone."

Darcy nodded slowly. "Maybe you're right… I guess I could stay a while longer." He walked over and sat down beside Zeke and Rey.

Antigone smiled as Rey tried to move the conversation in a happier direction. She felt some of the shock from hearing of Erebus' death lessen. Ten years of war had cost Remnant a lot, but it was over now, and Antigone was going to do everything that she could both to uphold the peace and to enjoy it.

* * *

 **September 1**

The Spring Maiden walked quickly through the streets of Vytal City, following close behind the girl who called herself Summer. The town was crowded, likely as crowded as it had ever been, with people celebrating the one year anniversary of the war's end. It was well past sunset, but the street was as bright as day from all of the lanterns that had been hung up. It was uncomfortably warm with so many people filling the streets. The shops were all open, and dozens of food stands were serving the vast throng. Music was playing from several directions, the sounds overlapping harmoniously or discordantly depending on where the listener stood.

After years of fighting alone and spending most of her time in the wilderness, the noise was a bit overwhelming for the Spring Maiden. Even after traveling with Summer for a month, she was still getting used to the idea of having a companion. The older girl's boundless energy and constant excitement was a sharp contrast from solitude.

Just as the Spring Maiden was thinking this, Summer reached back and grabbed her wrist.

"There it is, Spring!" she squealed and began running through the crowded street, dragging the Spring Maiden along behind her.

This was pretty much what the Spring Maiden had come to expect out of Summer. The older girl had appeared during a fight with some Grimm a month prior, acting as if it was a complete coincidence that they met, but not seeming the slightest bit surprised. Since then, she had dragged the Spring Maiden halfway across Remnant without ever telling her exactly where they were going. All she knew was that they were meeting some people on Vytal.

They quickly arrived at their destination, a small but brightly lit inn tucked away on a side street. All the inns were crowded that night, but this one was far enough from the celebration to at least not be stifling. Summer led the way inside, passing right by the front desk with a quick wave to the innkeeper. The elderly man blinked in surprise as the two girls ran down the hallway towards the guest rooms.

"Uh, do you know what room they're in?" asked the Spring Maiden.

Summer stopped in her tracks. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, standing perfectly still for a moment. Then she opened her eyes again.

"I do now."

Summer walked over to the room with a four painted on the door and gave a quick knock. She finally let go of the Spring Maiden's hand and began bouncing back and forth on her feet in excitement.

A moment later the door opened, revealing a woman in her mid-thirties with dirty blonde hair. Her clothing was old and worn, and the woman herself didn't look much better.

"Autumn!" shouted Summer as she leapt forward and threw her arms around the woman. Autumn was apparently not expecting to suddenly be hugged like that, and for a moment it looked like she was going to throw Summer off of her. But recognition quickly dawned on her face, and she accepted the girl's embrace.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing back there?" a voice called from down the hallway. The Spring Maiden turned to see the innkeeper running towards them looking annoyed.

"It's alright, Stan," Autumn said, leaning out of the doorway. "They're with us."

The innkeeper grumbled under his breath and went back to his desk. The Spring Maiden was just turning back to the two women when Summer grabbed her by the hand and dragged her into the hotel room, closing the door behind them.

The room was decently furnished with a desk, a nightstand, a floor lamp, and, most importantly, two large beds. After enduring the hard bunks of the ship she and Summer had taken to Vytal, not to mention spending the better part of five years sleeping on the ground, the Spring Maiden had to resist the urge to drop right onto the sheets and go to sleep.

Seated at the desk was a young woman in her mid-twenties. She was short and thin, with pale skin and light blue hair. She wore a plain white dress that might have been the only article of clothing in the room that was in good condition. She rose as the two girls entered the room, greeting them with a smile.

"Hi," greeted Summer cheerfully. "You must be Winter."

The woman nodded. "And I suppose you must be Summer. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"You too!" agreed Summer. "And I brought someone else with me."

Summer gestured to the Spring Maiden, and the three women finally turned to acknowledge her. The Spring Maiden shrank slightly under their gaze, feeling out of place.

"Spring?" asked Autumn softly. The Spring Maiden nodded in reply.

"I found her in Anima fighting against the Grimm," Summer continued at a mile a minute. "You should have seen her. She hasn't even had the power as long as I have, but she was using it like a pro. I couldn't believe it. She turned half the forest against the Grimm and made it look like the trees were doing it on their own!"

"That's amazing," agreed Winter, stepping closer to the other women.

"My grandmother had the power before I did," explained the Spring Maiden shyly. "She taught me everything she could about it before she died."

"You're Flora's granddaughter?" asked Autumn quietly. The Spring Maiden turned to her in surprise.

"You knew my grandmother?"

Autumn nodded. "She was a mentor to me after I obtained the power. I doubt I'd still be alive without her guidance. If you're anything like your grandmother, then I'm certain that her power is in good hands."

The Spring Maiden stared at Autumn for a moment. Then she looked back and forth between Summer and Winter. All three women wore warm, comforting smiles. They looked at her like a long lost sister, and one of them really did know her family. After years of fighting alone, this sudden feeling of acceptance was overwhelming.

The Spring Maiden's eyes welled up with tears. She tried to steady herself for a moment, before finally breaking down. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to choke back her sobs, but she couldn't stop herself from trembling.

A second later, she felt soft arms wrap around her, pinning her arms to her sides and pulling her into someone's body. Surprised by the sudden contact, she nearly summoned her power to defend herself, but when she opened her eyes she found Autumn there, holding her close. Without entirely meaning to, she rested her head in the nape of the older woman's neck.

At that moment, the Spring Maiden realized just how long she had wanted someone to hug her, and she began to cry.

"It's alright," whispered Autumn. "We're here. You're alright."

"I tried so hard," sobbed the Spring Maiden into the older woman's shoulder. "But it was never enough. I was all alone, and there were so many Grimm. So many people died… and they just kept _fighting_."

"It's alright," whispered Autumn again. "You did everything that you could. The war's over now, and we're here. You're not alone."

The Spring Maiden felt Summer and Winter come up beside her and each put an arm around her shoulders. She stayed there in their embrace, not caring how warm it was in the already sweltering summer heat, until finally the tears stopped.

The four women stepped back from each other, and the Spring Maiden looked at her new friends through puffy red eyes. They were still smiling warmly at her.

"We can't all stay in one place for long," began Autumn. "But if you ever need someone, we'll be there for you. And, while they may be few, we have allies across Remnant. You don't have to fight alone anymore."

The Spring Maiden nodded, her breathing still a bit shaky.

"Another thing," Autumn continued. "We hide our names in the hope that even if our enemies catch word of where we are, they won't learn who we are. But I think that we should, at the very least, trust one another."

Summer nodded in agreement and beamed at the Spring Maiden. "I thought about telling you right away, but it didn't feel like the right time. My name is Melody, and I've been the Summer Maiden for five years."

Autumn spoke next. "My name is Calypso, and I've been the Fall Maiden for seventeen years."

Winter followed, her voice soft and delicate sounding. "My name is Ismene, and I've been the Winter Maiden for eight years."

The Spring Maiden wiped the last of the tears from her eyes and stood up a bit straighter before speaking.

"My name is April, and I've been the Spring Maiden for four years."

Calypso waited a few seconds before speaking again. "The last eleven years have not been kind to Remnant or to the Maidens. We lost a Winter, a Spring, and two Summers in that time. But the war is over now, and the Grimm's numbers are falling. Whatever happens, never forget all that you've done, all the lives that the three of you saved. We made the world a safer place."

The Four Maidens remained together for the rest of the night, the most human contact any of them had experienced in a long time. Soon they would have to go back out and continue their fight against the Grimm, but in that moment they were victorious, and they were together.

* * *

 **September 1**

"Today, we stand together united: Mistral, Atlas, Vacuo, Vale, the four kingdoms of Remnant.

"On this day, nearly eighty years ago, the largest war in recorded history came to an end. It was a war of ignorance, of greed, and of oppression. A war that was about much more than where borders fell or who traded with whom, but about the very idea of individualism itself.

"We fought for countless reasons, one of which being the destruction of all forms of art and self-expression. And, as you are all aware, that was something many could not stand for.

"As a result, those who opposed this tyranny began naming their children after one of the core aspects of art itself: color. It was their way to demonstrate that not only would they refuse to tolerate this oppression, but neither would the generations to come, and it was a trend that is held to this very day. We encourage individuality, expressionism, and unity through diversity.

"As I have said, today we stand together, united. But this bond cannot exist without effort. Which is why today, while the rest of the world celebrates peace, Huntsmen and Huntresses will work to uphold it.

"But no matter which path you choose, remember to be safe, remember your training, and remember to do your very best."

* * *

 **Author's Note: I had to end this story with Ozpin's speech from volume 2 because that's where it began. That speech gave me a certain idea about the war and how it ended. I felt that the World of Remnant from volume 4 failed to live up to my expectations, and more importantly it seemed to undercut the message that I thought the event was supposed to convey. From minute one of RWBY, it's been about a simple soul making a big difference, and I think that resonates a lot more strongly than the king of Vale ending the war by beating up everyone.**

 **Thank you all for reading. Leave a review if there's anything that you liked or thought could have been better. I hope you enjoyed my first fanfiction.**


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